Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2018

Visualizing Certainty: What the Cultural History of the Gantt Chart Teaches Technical and Professional Communicators about Management

Vincent D. Robles University of North Texas

Abstract

Using a cultural-historical genre analysis of the Gantt chart, the author describes how, when a project’s progress and scope are being considered, this popular project management visualization evokes managerial values of certainty and simplicity. These values, instantiated in early 20th-century scientific management philosophy, are made visually manifest in Henry L. Gantt’s popular chart. These charts require technical and professional communicators to gauge the rhetorical implications of using them when providing their expertise in communicating project management.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2018-10-02
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2018.1520025
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Topics
rhetorical criticism genre theory
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