A progress task is one that you believe will move you towards a position that is fundamentally better than the present one.
A maintenance task will move you towards a position you have been in before.
For example:
1. Buying a new car may be progress; filling up with petrol is maintenance. It leaves you where you have been before.
2. Carrying out an established process/procedure/system at work is maintenance; examining the process, making recommendations for improvements, and successfully implementing those improvements is progress.
3. Hitting targets is maintenance; exceeding targets is progress.
The people who get noticed in organisations these days are the progressive managers - they find time in their busy days to 'stick their neck out'. Doing it in the right way is seen by others as effective, efficient and builds reputation with senior managers.
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas"
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW