Project management consolidates people and resources to plan and execute projects to achieve specific business objectives. Task management is the process of organizing and managing tasks within a business organization. At the very heart of their definitions, these two activities sound like they could be the same exact thing. So here are three differences to help you understand how these two responsibilities are not the same so that you can avoid any confusion in the future:
Project management is temporary while task management is ongoing: Task management is more common because every organization has tasks that need to be completed daily. Project management is only needed when a specific accomplishment needs to be met; once the project is completed, the project team is no longer needed.
Project management requires more resources: In managing a project, you need to coordinate with multiple team members and have a greater understanding of the organization’s overall goals. Task management is much less complex as it focuses more so on individual jobs that are typically repetitive.
Project management requires a team while task management is done at the individual level: The main difference between project management and task management is that task management usually refers to managing an individual piece of work or activity. In contrast, project management refers to managing the work of an entire team. Almost everybody engages in some form of task management on their own, while a project manager is needed for much more complex assignments.
When analyzing the differences between projects and tasks, look at it from this perspective: the project is the overarching goal while the tasks are everything that needs to get done to accomplish said goal.