That companies are positively overflowing with all manner of tasks and workflows will come as no surprise to anyone who has made it this far. To keep some kind of overview, a number of organizational methods have been developed over the years — among them the two in this post's title: process management and project management. Below we look at how the two differ.
To begin with … an AI-based comparison
Anyone who, like yours truly, counts among the “first movers” consulting ChatGPT rather than Google for a question like this may already have stumbled across this comparison with the right prompt (I quote):
“Process management is like filing down a tool to make it better, while project management is like assembling a new tool to achieve a specific goal.”
That metaphor already allows a first observation about the nature of both methods: process management deals with recurring workflows, while project management concerns one-off undertakings. Good enough to start with? Excellent.
Process management — the everyday hero
The comparison can of course be drawn in more detail. Process management is trivially far more closely tied to a company's daily doing, because it watches over the recurring workflows carried out in a company, in some cases several times a day. The value of process management doesn't stop at merely watching those workflows, though; it extends to improving them. Process management is meant to help improve the effectiveness — or even the efficiency — of a workflow, and so to make sure tasks get done more effectively. In that way process management can help companies reduce costs, or raise the quality of their products, services and workflows, and with it customer satisfaction. In that sense process management can also be used to respond better to customer needs.
For all the enthusiasm about the value of process management, there are of course a few blemishes. Introducing process management for the first time often comes with considerable administrative effort, which — particularly where the execution and the approach are wrong — can eat a lot of time and resources. On the other hand, process management has to be approached holistically enough that the whole workforce is brought along (shameless plug: we have gathered what that can look like, among other places, here <3), because otherwise resistance can build up inside the company and among its people.
Project management — for the special occasions
Project management, on the other hand, deals with planning, carrying out and monitoring (drum roll please) projects. These are limited in time and pursue a specific goal; project management therefore concerns far more specific and, above all, rarer or one-off undertakings within a company. Project management works in a very results-oriented and focused way, in order to keep every aspect of a project in view. Projects often take place within a clearly defined time frame in which they are meant to be finished. At the same time, projects have budgets set in advance that likewise shouldn't be exceeded. Project management is accordingly built for effectiveness. In that sense projects also tend to be highly plannable (even if reality sometimes looks … rather different … *cries in BER*).
Project management of course has a few drawbacks too, chief among them the limited applicability of the method: because project management deals with workflows that do NOT recur (or recur very rarely), it isn't suited to more frequently recurring work; it only functions within its bounded time frame. At the same time, the greater complexity means project management (or projects in general) carries considerably more risk than the recurring workflows of process management. Project management also involves substantial planning effort and intensive coordination, which can be costly both in time and in money.
“So which one do we take?”
If that is the question you have just asked yourself, the answer, as so often, is “it depends”. Both methods have their uses. For better illustration I have brought along an example of each — process and project management (sponsored by AI) — which in this case relate to a manufacturer with online sales:
An example of process management would be improving the ordering process in an online shop. The current ordering process is analyzed and bottlenecks and inefficient steps identified, in order to work out proposals for improvement. Improving the ordering process means orders are handled faster, which on the one hand reduces costs and on the other raises customer satisfaction.
Project management is applied to launching a new product. A project plan is drawn up setting out the various steps of product development and launch (including market analysis, product development, marketing and sales). The project is monitored throughout to make sure the product reaches the market on time and within the budget set beforehand.
In summary: it's the combination that pays
In the end, neither method beats the other. Process management is more generally applicable, while project management has the edge for the out-of-the-ordinary cases that nevertheless come up often enough. Which also leads to the conclusion that a company should ideally use both methods, so as to have both its daily and its more specific tasks and workflows under control.