Process Management vs. Project Management - What is the Difference?

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has made it this far that companies are overflowing with a wide variety of tasks and processes. Over the years, several organizational methods have been developed to help keep track of everything, including the two title contenders of this article: process management and project management. In the following, we will examine the differences between the two!

To start... a comparison based on AI

Anyone who (like yours truly) is among the "first movers" who, since this year, consult ChatGPT instead of Google for such a problem, may have already stumbled upon this comparison with the right prompt to the AI assistant (I quote):

"Process management is like honing a tool to make it better, while project management is like assembling a new tool to achieve a specific goal."

Based on this metaphor, an initial determination about the nature of both methods can already be made: process management deals with recurring workflows, while project management refers to one-time events. Good for the start? Very nice.

Process Management – The Everyday Hero

The comparison can of course be carried out in even more detail. Process management is trivially much more closely linked to the daily "doing" of a company, as it monitors the recurring workflows, some of which are carried out several times a day, within a company. However, the benefits of process management do not stop at simply monitoring the processes, but also relate to improving the processes. Process management should help to improve the effectiveness or even the efficiency of a process and thus ensure that tasks are completed more effectively. In this way, process management can support companies in reducing costs or increasing the quality of their own products/services/workflows in order to increase customer satisfaction. In this sense, process management can also be used to better respond to customer needs.

Natürlich gibt es, bei aller Euphorie über den Nutzen von Prozessmanagement, auch ein paar Makel. So ist die (Erst-)Implementierung von Prozessmanagement häufig mit einem großen administrativen Aufwand verbunden, der (speziell bei falscher Durchführung und Herangehensweise) viel Zeit und Ressourcen fressen kann. Auf der anderen Seite muss Prozessmanagement auch so holistisch angegangen werden, dass eben auch die gesamte Belegschaft mitgenommen wird (shameless plug: wie genau das aussehen kann, haben wir unter anderem hier zusammengetragen <3), da sich sonst Widerständeinnerhalb des Unternehmens und der Mitarbeiter entwickeln können.

Project Management – For Special Occasions

Project management, on the other hand, deals with the planning, implementation and monitoring of (drum roll please) projects. These are temporary and pursue a specific goal; project management therefore concerns much more specific and, above all, less frequent to one-time processes that take place in a company. Project management works in a very result-oriented and focused manner in order to keep track of all aspects of a project. Projects often take place within a clearly defined timeframe in which they are to be completed. At the same time, there are also pre-determined budgets for projects that should also not be exceeded. Project management is therefore designed for effectiveness. In this sense, projects also often have a high degree of predictability (although reality often looks... different... *cries in BER*).

Of course, project management also has some disadvantages, above all the limited applicability of the method: since project management deals with NON-recurring (or very rare) processes, it is not suitable for more frequently recurring workflows; it only works within its defined timeframe. At the same time, project management (or projects in general) involves a significantly higher risk due to the increased complexity than the recurring processes of process management. In addition, project management is also associated with high planning effort and intensive coordination, which can be both time-consuming and costly.

"What do we take now?"

If you have just asked yourself this question, the answer, as so often, is: "it depends". Both methods have their uses, and for better visualization, I have included an application example for 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 the optimization of the ordering process in an online shop. The current ordering process is analyzed, bottlenecks and inefficient steps are identified in order to develop suggestions for improvement. Optimizing the ordering process ensures that orders are processed faster, which reduces costs and increases customer satisfaction.

Project management is used for the introduction of a new product. A project plan is created that defines the various steps of product development and launch (including market analysis, product development, marketing and sales). The project is monitored throughout its duration to ensure that the product is launched on time and within the pre-defined budget.

Conclusion: Above all, the combination is useful!

In the end, neither method beats the other. Process management is more generally applicable, while project management has the edge in non-daily applications, which also occur frequently enough. However, this also leads to the conclusion that a company should ideally use both methods in order to have both daily and more specific tasks and processes under control.

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