Thanks for your comments. To answer your two questions:
- I have always created burn down charts in Excel – so no special software required
- You would hope that the line is going down in a fairly uniform way. If there is a faster rate of decay at the end it would suggest that everyone is cramming in the work just before the deadline, which could be risky.

David

That was a nice comparison of the two methods on showcase. Where a person would use MS Project to compose a Gantt chart, what tool would be used to create the Burn Down Chart you’ve mentioned? This is the first time I have heard reference to this methodology, but it sounds quite useful.

My 2nd questions is, given your experience with these charts, what should a PM see in terms of a trend for the Burn Down Chart? Will a healthy project display a linearly reducing trend or instead one similar to your example with a faster rate of decay towards the end of the project? I’m curious to know what is expected, so as to form a baseline in using this type of chart the first time through.

Kind regards,

Brad