Project Management Versus Process Management

In some of conversations I have had in the last few months about Process Management, it has become clear to me that not everyone has a definition of Process Management in their minds. At least not as clear of a definition as they hold for Project Management. While there is an overlap of these two ideas, and in fact one is a subset of the other, there are some differences that are worth noting when thinking through how to improve your team and communication.  

The simplest differentiation between the two is that Project Management is time bound and Process Management is ongoing. Process Management is the rule set that your team utilizes in their day to day work and is highly repeatable. Project Management has a defined beginning and end as well as a stakeholder who is likely external to the teams.  

While 'Project Manager' is a common title to find within an organization, it is rarer to find the title 'Process Manager' in companies under a certain size. This is partially due to smaller teams relying on everyone to sort out processes the best they can on their own as they are growing and scaling. It is also due to teams of teams needing the specific role to exist to relieve tension after a growth point is reached. Having a defacto process leader who can authoritatively help the pieces move ahead day to day is very helpful, but not a position smaller companies normally budget for. 

If we think about all the processes of a company, from how coffee supplies get ordered to how the C-level execs communicate to comply with the regulatory paperwork, there are a lot of ongoing, repeatable tasks that tend to 'just happen' within the silos of the individual roles. Having a central figure who can optimize for repeatability and ease of operations is the dream of any team so they can 'get back to focusing on real work.'

Project Managers do fulfil this role to some degree within the scope of the project they are working on. Making sure that the team members get the resources they need to complete the tasks and that communication lanes stay open are the primary jobs I hear people describe when they talk about project management in general. Ideally a Project Manager and a Process Manager can work hand in hand to deliver the best results from any project through optimized processes. 

In absense of a dedicated Process Manager, unfortunately the notion that the Project Manager should be handling things outside the scope of the time bound and scoped projects does arise, as the two roles are naturally similar. However this anti-pattern causes a lot of long term harm via frustration and burn out as the dual focus is a quick road to exhaustion. Ideally, by the time this situation arises, the company would be large enough to want to optimize internal ongoing activities to save costs and improve overall efficiencies and hire someone with the specific title of Process Manager. Unfortunately this is not realistic for the vast majority of companies i have talked with in the last few months.  

So what are these small to medium sized businesses to do? Fortunately I think that for smaller teams, this role can be a part time job spread across the workforce, but this approach relies on granting certain authority and having a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities. This resource mapping, that defines roles and authority, can not be entered into lightly and will require some focus to achieve but it can be done. 

There is no bad time to start this process. It is never too late to optimize how your team works. Getting some outside help to standardize the team around a basic rule set for process management can greatly speed up this process. Of course the long term best solution is to elevate internal team members to the role of Process Managers. Whatever your team does though, let's make sure to keep Project Managers focused on the timebound, scoped projects so they can deliver the best results.