Task management vs project management: What's the difference?

2020 forced the professional services world to take a good, hard look at their task management. With in-person accountability pretty much out the window, organizations without a solid task management solution were forced to adapt.

At the same time, those who might have already been using task management software have been looking to cut the fat on monthly costs, while getting the functionality they need to run their business.

Third, because task management falls under project management, 2020 also resulted in tons of teams around the world adopting more of a full-suite project management solution.

But what’s the difference between task management and project management? Are they the same thing? Why does it matter?

We’ll break down the difference between task management and project management, so you can have a clear understanding of both.

What is task management?

Task management is the control and execution of all tasks related to a project. This involves divvying up tasks, assigning them to responsible parties, and keeping track of the status of each task.

What is project management?

Project management is a larger discipline that oversees all moving parts of the project, from billing and finance to quality of deliverables. Bonafide project management includes the management of :

Money

Organization

Time

Information

Quality

Task management vs project management

Task management is NOT project management, but rather a subset of project management. Within the working definition of project management, task management should fall under Information, in that it includes the back-and-forth sharing of what needs to be done to complete the project.

Task management within project management

Task management is a critical piece of the project management puzzle. Without a good task management solution in place, team members may have difficulty communicating around a task or unable to share the necessary documents to get the job done.

Or worse, there might be no task management solution in place, and everyone is sharing information haphazardly through emails and texts.

Why it matters

1. If you don’t know the difference between task management and project management, you may end up paying too much for a task management platform. Lots of project management software already has task management built-in, without having to use an outside solution.
2. Also, if you’re on the hunt for project management software, you might accidentally end up with a glorified task management solution that doesn’t have everything you need. That’s because certain task management platforms tend to market themselves more as project management solutions, but don’t provide all the functionality needed for true project management.
3. If your task management is not synced with your financials, your time tracking, and the other principles of managing a project, you’re probably wasting time and money by paying for extra licenses, etc. and bouncing around the various platforms.
4. The most efficient course to follow is to implement a project management solution that has the functionality of task management (assigning tasks, etc.) built-in. This way, project managers and collaborators are more in-tune with one another. And you can accomplish everything you need with regards to task management within the same umbrella as your invoicing, budgets, time tracking, and everything else.

Get task management AND project management with PSOhub!