The Difference Between Project and Process

It’s the simple disctinction that is often overlooked. I often refer to them interchangeably myself; because I develop processes and walk away from them. However, Project and Process are not the same thing. Projects can contain processes; but not the inverse.

• Processes are built on a collection of tasks and are meant to be recurring in a “this is how we make a widget” kind of way.
• Projects have a definite beginning an end and are singular events in a “plan your birthday party and then have it” kind of way.

So both things have a desired result. One is recurring, one is not. Both should be repeatable though.

A sound project plan for lauching a product or moving into a new facility should be able to be used as a model anytime you want to launch a product or move facilities. The particular considerations and processes may change, but the tasks involved will be eerily similar.

One change you should expect in a reused project plan, that you would not expect in a reused process, is a change to your timeline.

Generally, a process is built to be efficient from the beginning and only a shift in resources will change the speed at which the process can be performed. With a project, you should expect that your critical path (the interdependent tasks that take the most time to complete) will change.

Having used a few of the processes before, you will find that you streamline some of them; such as securing a marketing firm for a product launch.

Say that in the first iteration of a product lauch it took you 3 months to research and vet marketing firms. You will already know of firms that you consider qualified and reliable, so this reduces the time needed to get marketing in place.

Another perspective – Process is how you do business. Projects are how you change how you do business.

My suggestion is to focus on processes at the beginning. My reason for this is simple: processes are the foundation for both good daily work and good project work.

Bully