Flow Charts and Gantt Charts. Imagine that there is an important investor coming to visit your company to decide whether or not to add a much-needed infusion of capital, and you’ve been put in charge of ensuring they have a good time. The investor is very mysterious, so you are unable to know for sure what they would like to do, but you want to make sure that you have four options available. A flow chart that helps you decide whether you should take the investor to a museum, a nightclub, to the outdoor shooting range, or golfing. Consider the at least the following criteria in your chart: the investor’s preference for time of day, the weather, the investor’s preference for noise, and the investor’s seasonal allergies.

Second, imagine that you have been put in charge of the company holiday party. You’re in your first job, and the holiday party is a big deal. You’ve already done one week worth of work, and you began five weeks out from the date of the party. (You’re in week two of a five week plan). Your manager is getting nervous, and would like to know what you’ve already done as well as what is still left to do and how much time each of the future activities are going to take. But fortunately, your manager was smart enough to hire a Stetson grad, and you’ve had Dr. Croom’s class, so you’re a step ahead of the game. Create a Gantt chart that reflects your completed and planned activities for the party planning process and put your manager’s mind at ease.

Notes: to build a flow chart, you can just use Microsoft Word. Pay attention to the shapes! For a Gantt Chart, you can use Word or Excel. You don’t need to make this harder than it has to be. What’s important for your flow chart is that 1) your logic is good and 2) you use the right shapes. What’s important for your Gantt chart is that 1) your logic is good and 2) you present the situation accurately. That’s it! I’m giving plenty of time for this one, but it’s easy, so don’t delay. One other thing: there are lots of flow chart and Gantt chart makers online, and you can use them if you choose.