What’s the Difference Between a Project and Process

The CEO of Siemens Ultrasound asked me once, "What's the difference between a project and a process?" My answer was, "The process is how and the project is the what." He disagreed and explained to me through an example: "If you have never driven from San Jose to Los Angeles before, that is a project, but if you do it over and over again, then it becomes a process. So a project BECOMES a process over time, with repetition. A project is something you have never done before [or have done infrequently]." I totally disagreed.

What are your thoughts on these differences?

I would say now (and said to him then) that a project is an INSTANCE of a process and that the process is continuously improving and changing (it's the how).