It would be wonderful if GANTT-charts could be made in Calc. A array of startdate-enddates as input per data series; Possiblity to set the X-Axis to weeks with working days only, to make the charts look right for planning purposes.
(Ab)using spreadsheet software for project management purposes is actually considered terrible among project management professionals. There are already specialized open source tools available for that, e.g. ProjectLibre or GanttProject. And even those are quite limited and have their issues. Although much better than spreadsheets.
Using simple GANTT charts is not abusing a spreadsheet software. For example, other chart features are only useful for university/science but maybe there are special tools that could be used for that instead of LibO. In a perfect world, using a tool like GanttProject would be the solution. But in real world there are many disadvantages: buggy tools, tools with bad usability, training/learning effort for new tools, possibility to install software (e.g. in company environments) and so on. Implementing (simple) GANTT charts would also be a marketing relevant issue IMHO (User is testing LibO for GANTT charts of some data. "Oh, what a powerful tool. Could replace my current spreadsheet software ...").
(In reply to Thomas Lendo from comment #2) > Using simple GANTT charts is not abusing a spreadsheet software. For > example, other chart features are only useful for university/science but > maybe there are special tools that could be used for that instead of LibO. > > In a perfect world, using a tool like GanttProject would be the solution. > But in real world there are many disadvantages: buggy tools, tools with bad > usability, training/learning effort for new tools, possibility to install > software (e.g. in company environments) and so on. You are assuming that LO won't have bugs in that. Or have better usability and less learning requirement than a specialized tool. On my tests, the latter ones are more intuitive (drag-and-drops, etc.) than spreadsheets used for that (see below). And support, though not perfectly, file formats interchangeable with MS Project and other project tools. I think one would have more troubles interchanging between LO and MS excel, etc. in that respect. I wouldn't open that can of worms in LO by trying to add project management functionality to it. There is already enough on the plate with its core role - being an office suite. > Implementing (simple) GANTT charts would also be a marketing relevant issue > IMHO (User is testing LibO for GANTT charts of some data. "Oh, what a > powerful tool. Could replace my current spreadsheet software ..."). There are already plenty templates for the so inclined (though I personally wouldn't use it): LO: - https://extensions.libreoffice.org/templates/gantt-chart-simple - https://extensions.libreoffice.org/templates/gantt-chart-template Other spreadsheet software (Excel): countless can be found on the Internet.