Technical Writing: The Difference Between a Process and a Procedure
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, Scene 1, in a discussion about dividing up a piece of land, a character says that he will “recriminate a ninth of a hair”. Cavil means to object on an important point. Even better, it’s a really annoying and trivial quibble. The reason for mentioning this is that there is often a fine line between musing and getting technically right. Here at The Tech Writer’s Tool Kit, the general opinion is that every word has a specific meaning and no two words have exactly the same meaning. Is it brooding to insist that there is an important difference between a procedure and a process? Both mean a way of doing something. Is changing a tire a process or a procedure? Have you just gone through the (process or procedure) of refinancing your home?
Procedure – The dictionary gives the etymology of procedure as a French word, procedure, from procedor meaning to proceed. Proceed is simply defined as going forward and procedure is defined as a way of proceeding. We have to go beyond the simple definition to use. In American English, the word is most often used to designate a unique type of business. So, we have medical procedure and appointment procedure. A procedure, then, is a single activity, consisting of multiple steps, performed to achieve a specific result. -This is the procedure we use to choose our officers.- The doctor said that the procedure is simple enough to be done in his office.- It is a long and complicated procedure that must be done with care.
Process – Starting with the dictionary for etymology, we kind of loop to discover that process comes through Middle English and Old French from the Latin prMcdere meaning to advance or proceed. It sounds a lot like a procedure. But, the process definition shows a difference. It says that a process is a series of actions that produce a result. In most cases, that result is a complete procedure. The distinction holds in general usage in various fields. For example, we’re talking about a hair coloring process, events now in progress, and processing an order. In Law, process is defined as the entire judicial procedure (proceeding). In engineering, the steps to turn iron into steel are a process. In Computer Science, it means performing operations on data, which is performed by a processor.
Based on general usage, then: – a procedure is a total operation – the complete set of actions – that produces some desired result – a process is the series of individual steps within the procedure that is followed to achieve the result The difference is that You must follow a process to complete a procedure. That would mean that saying: “The process of cutting hair is boring” does not mean the same thing as saying: “The procedure of cutting hair is boring.” It depends on whether you’re saying the individual steps are boring or the whole operation is boring. Two different words: two different meanings? We think so. And you?
