Methodology, Strategy, Plan

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Bassam in Yemen about the usage of three words connected with project management.

Question

Dear Teacher,

In project management, we face three confused terms: “methodology”, “strategy”, and “plan”. Could [you] please help me to know how [to] differentiate among them and use each one in a correct way?

Answer

Thank you for writing to us, Bassam. I'm happy to answer this question.

The main difference between these words is how general or specific they are. “Plan” usually has the most general meaning, “strategy” tends to be more specific, and “methodology” is the most specific.

In its most general sense, “plan” means the same thing as “goal.” For example, a company may have a “plan,” or “goal,” to expand its business into more countries. And the company's “strategy” is the specific steps it takes to reach that goal.

However, we sometimes use “strategy” in a general way. We could say the company's “strategy” is to expand its business into more countries. But when we use “strategy” in this general sense, we tend to express the reasons for the “strategy.” So, we might say:

The company hopes its strategy to expand into more countries will lower production costs.

Note that “plan” can sometimes be specific. For example, if police need to catch a criminal, they can list the things they need to do to catch that person. The police can call this list their “plan.”

Now let's look at the most specific term, “methodology.” This word often refers to the details of how people do research. For example, when scientists write research papers, they include a section called “methods,” or “methodology.” This section explains exactly how the scientists did their experiments or other research.

Project management methodology can differ depending on the goals or kind of research needed. For example, marketing researchers study what kind of products people want to buy, while companies study manufacturing costs to help them set prices.

So, it is important to remember that the words “plan” and “strategy” can be general or specific. And “methodology” is the specific method we use to help our “strategy” or “plan” be successful.

We hope today's lesson is helpful, Bassam.

For our readers and listeners, do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at 21voa.com.

And that's Ask a Teacher.

I'm Andrew Smith.

Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

_________________________________________________

Words in This Story

specific -adj. exact or particular

refer to -v. relate to or point to the meaning or details of something

section -n. a part of a whole