Six phases of a council park build over five months, with the overlaps shown
Phase gantt slide that shows where six phases overlap
A phase gantt slide shows a short project as a handful of phase bars across the months, so the audience can see where phases overlap and the site is busiest. This one shows Elderbrook Shire Council, a fictional council, building Tallowmere Reserve park in six phases from March to July 2027.
What is on the slide
- Title
- Tallowmere Reserve Park Build
- Framing line
- Elderbrook Shire Council, six phases from March to July 2027. Overlapping bars share the site.
- Preparation
- Site set up, March, fencing and tree protection. Earthworks, March to April, 2,400 cubic metres.
- Execution
- Drainage, April to May, swales and two rain gardens. Playground, May to June, nature play and an accessible swing. Paths and lighting, May to July, 1.1 km shared path.
- Stabilisation
- Planting and handover, June to July, 6,000 native plants.
When this is the right slide
Right when a council, board or client needs a three to six month project as four to six phase bars, to see the overlaps and the busiest month at once.
What to swap it for
Timeline: Sprint Plan Gantt. When the work runs in two week cycles and the audience thinks in sprints rather than months.
What this slide shows
The title reads Tallowmere Reserve Park Build, with the framing line: Elderbrook Shire Council, six phases from March to July 2027, overlapping bars share the site. A Gantt with five columns, Mar 2027 to Jul 2027, holds six striped rows, each with a phase name and its group below. Site set up, Preparation, March, labelled fencing and tree protection. Earthworks, Preparation, March to April, labelled 2,400 cubic metres. Drainage, Execution, April to May, labelled swales and two rain gardens. Playground, Execution, May to June, labelled nature play and an accessible swing. Paths and lighting, Execution, May to July, labelled 1.1 km shared path. Planting and handover, Stabilisation, June to July, labelled 6,000 native plants. Preparation bars are navy, Execution bars blue and the Stabilisation bar teal. No arrows join the bars, because this chart has no dependency links; the order and the overlap carry the sequence. The rows are tall enough that every label sits comfortably inside its bar, even the one month site set up bar.
When this is the right slide
Use a phase gantt slide for a short project of three to six months, when the audience needs the phases and their overlap rather than the task detail: construction and fit out projects, event production, pilots, migrations and grant funded programs. It is right for councils, boards and clients who will ask when things happen and when the site or team is busiest. It is the wrong slide for the contractor's working program, which needs every task, crew and dependency, and for projects longer than a year, where months are too fine and quarters read better. It is also wrong for sequential work with no overlap, where a simpler timeline says the same thing with less. The slide also works for residents. A council can publish it on the project page or show it at a community meeting, and people living near the reserve can see when the earthworks will be noisiest and when the playground will open, which reduces complaints and calls to the customer service line during the build.
How to adapt it
First, replace the six phases with your own, grouped into two or three stages, and give each bar a quantity or defining fact rather than repeating its name. Second, set the column labels to your months and say in the framing line what the overlap means, such as trades sharing the site. Third, when the work runs in two week cycles, as in software or a fast fit out, swap to the sprint plan gantt, which spreads up to ten tasks across six sprints with an owner on each. Whichever form you use, refresh the chart at each monthly report so the bars show actual progress, and mark any phase that has slipped. Keep the group names plain, such as preparation and planting, because residents and councillors will not know the contractor's terms. Check the quantities against the contract schedule before the slide goes into a council report.
What makes this slide work
The overlap in May is visible at once
Drainage runs from April into May, while the playground and the paths both start in May. Three bars stacked in the same column show the busiest month without a word of explanation, which is what residents, councillors and site managers most need to know about the build.
Groups colour the bars by stage
Preparation in navy, Execution in blue and Stabilisation in teal, with the group named under each task. The colours change from dark to light as the project moves from ground works to planting, which reads like the site itself moving from disturbance toward finished parkland.
Every bar carries a real quantity
Fencing and tree protection. 2,400 cubic metres. Swales and two rain gardens. Nature play and an accessible swing. 1.1 km shared path. 6,000 native plants. A council audience can picture each phase from its quantity, and the numbers can be checked against the contract.
Questions people ask
How many phases fit on a phase rollup gantt?
This layout caps at six, which is what this slide uses. Six bars across five months keeps every row tall enough for a label inside the bar. A project with more steps should group them into phases for this slide, such as paths and lighting together, and keep the task level schedule for the contractor's program.
Why show overlapping phases on a gantt?
Because overlap is where the risk and the coordination are. Here drainage, the playground and paths all run in May, so three trades share the site. A council officer seeing that knows to plan access, parking and safety for that month. A list of phases in order would hide the clash.
Can a phase gantt show which phase depends on another?
Not with arrows; the bars are independent. The order and overlap suggest the logic, such as earthworks finishing before drainage gets going. If a dependency is critical, such as planting waiting for path edges, say so in the bar label or aloud. A separate risk slide can list the key dependencies.
What should the label inside each bar say?
The one number or fact that defines the phase: 2,400 cubic metres of earthworks, two rain gardens, 1.1 km of shared path, 6,000 native plants. That gives each bar substance without a second line of text. Avoid repeating the phase name inside the bar; the row label already says it.
When is a sprint gantt better than a phase gantt?
When the work runs in short cycles of two weeks and the audience thinks in sprints, as software teams do. A phase gantt suits construction, events and programs measured in months. If the park build were broken into fortnightly work packages, a six sprint plan would show the finer rhythm.
How do I present a phase gantt to councillors?
Give the start and finish first, March to July 2027. Then walk the three groups, preparation, execution and stabilisation, rather than all six bars. Point to May as the busiest month and say what that means for residents. End with the handover date and what residents will be able to use.
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