Ways to Get PDUs: Renew Your PMP in a Sustainable Way
There are some professional certifications that only require you to pass the exam once, and you keep the credential for life, like Professional Scrum Master.
But most certifications need to be continuously maintained, and besides paying the renewal fee, you either have to pass the exam again or submit proof of active professional development. With project management certifications by PMI, it’s the latter – to keep your credential active, you’ll need to log a certain number of hours of PM-related education and other activities within each renewal cycle.
In this article, I’ll discuss ways of earning Professional Development Units for PMI certifications – and, importantly, how to obtain PDUs while enjoying the process.
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Three types of PDUs: PMI Talent Triangle explained
Talent Triangle divides PDUs into three domains, each representing a side of a well-rounded project manager’s skill set. For PMP renewal, you’ll need to get at least 8 PDUs related to each one, for a grand total of 60 every three years.
Same renewal principles apply to CAPM, DASSM and other certifications by PMI (with varying renewal cycle times and PDU volume requirements). But I’ll be referring to PMP here, as it’s the most popular one.
Triangle sides had different names earlier, and while the new names are more encompassing and more in line with the modern PM approaches, they’re also more abstract, which might cause confusion when attributing PDUs. So, here’s a simple breakdown:
Business Acumen. Ability to think strategically, make good judgement and quick but sound decisions.
Ways of Working. A more practical, executional side of things. Ability to recognize and apply the best approach to the task or project at hand, adopting the new tools and concepts to be more efficient.
Power Skills. Formerly “Leadership” in the Talent Triangle, and a term that evolved from “soft skills”. Interpersonal skills; ability to inspire, influence, lead to change, resolve conflict.
Most books, webinars, and especially practical experiences represent a mix of strategy/vision, tactics/execution, and interpersonal skills. Thus it’s up to you which domain(s) to attribute them to; use your best judgement.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the PDU attribution, though – by the time you get 60 PDUs required for PMP renewal, unless you were deliberately overfocused on one domain, there will naturally be over 8 PDUs falling into each of the domains of the Talent Triangle.
PDUs are not Contact Hours. An important distinction
Another point of confusion is the terminology: some people use the term “PDUs” interchangeably with “Contact hours”, but those are not the same, and it’s important to understand the difference.
Contact hours: prerequisite for PMP
Contact hours are a prerequisite for obtaining a certification, you list them in your PMP application. Those are the hours spent obtaining formal project management education and training via courses, workshops, seminars.
Contact hours could theoretically be combined from different sources, but usually the PMP applicants get all hours by taking a course. It doesn’t have to be a course by PMI’s Authorized Training Partner (ATP); there are budget-friendly options on Udemy, and other courses from reputable providers count as well.
The key point is that you need to have a certificate of completion that confirms your hours of training. You’ll have to provide it in your PMP application, and it would especially matter if you get audited during your PMP application process. Any kind of self-education doesn’t count as contact hours.
PDUs: required for certification maintenance
Professional Development Unit (PDU) is an hour spent learning, volunteering, and doing other activities related to project management work and education **after **you obtain your PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, or another PMI credential. You could start logging them in your dashboard right after you pass the exam successfully and your PMP status is confirmed.
Hours spent on self-education, like reading books and watching webinars, counts towards earning PDUs. You need to claim a minimum of 35 PDUs in the “Education" area, but there’s no upper limit, so theoretically, all 60 hours could be filled with self-education alone.
Why do people confuse PDUs and Contact hours?
The mix-up probably happens because exam preparation courses also yield PDUs – but only for the certifications you *already *have. So, for example, you obtained the PMI-ACP credential a couple of years ago, and now you’re getting ready for the PMP exam – the same course that would satisfy the 35-contact-hour requirement for PMP will also count as PDUs for your PMI-ACP, or other certifications you have.
But for your new PMP, you could only start logging the PDUs after the exam was taken, so hours you spent on education before that point wouldn’t count.
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Giving back – log PDUs for working as a PM
There are two areas for earning PDUs, with a number of subcategories.
For anyone who keeps working in the project management field, an instant way to earn PDUs is logging hours in the “Working as a Practitioner” subcategory in the “Giving back” area. For PMP, you could log up to 8 hours per 3-year cycle for working within the profession.
The “Giving back” area is fully optional and allows you to earn up to 25 PDUs for sharing your knowledge and contributing to the profession. You could log hours for activities like writing articles, volunteering, leading study groups, and so on.
Earn free PDUs by watching webinars
Watching project management webinars and listening to podcasts is the easiest way to get PDUs in the “Education” area, both in terms of how many free options there are and in terms of convenience.
PMI has their own resource, Projectmanagement.com, which hosts over two thousand webinars. The majority are PMI members-only, but there are still hundreds of webinars for non-members, so you would definitely find a few dozen that are of interest to you personally.
If you watch a webinar on Projectmanagement.com in its entirety, a PDU is automatically logged into your account. It’ll reflect on your dashboard within 48 hours.
Webinars from other sources also count. There are great project management podcast playlists on Youtube, and I also have a list of 12 project management and Scrum webinars compiled while I was getting ready for the PSM II exam.
Free courses by PMI yield PDUs
Courses are the main way PDUs are monetized by various providers, but there are plenty of free PM-related courses out there, starting with Coursera.
PMI has a number of “free” courses that give a few PDUs each. Most of them are actually only zero-cost if you have a paid PMI membership, but some are free for everyone, like a course on application of Generative AI.
Related: AI in project management: practical tips.
Another example is this free introductory course: PMI Certified Professional in Managing AI (PMI-CPMAI). It’s available in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, Korean and even Klingon (a fictional language from the Star Trek universe – so we’re truly entering the domain of the future), and while its estimated duration is 1 hour, it yields 3 PDUs in the “Ways of working” subcategory.
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Obtain PDUs by reading books and articles
PDUs can be earned by reading books, white papers, and even blogs. Reading a blog post won’t take a whole hour, but you could also log fractions – for example, if reading an article took 15 minutes, that would be 0.25 PDU.
Logging fractions like this might be a hassle, but that’s an option, and it adds up if you read regularly.
Books usually aren’t free (though you could buy used or rent in a library), but each one takes a few hours to read, and they could give you valuable insights. I’ll also link a few book-inspired articles here eventually.
Mindset for earning PDUs
Why do we need PDUs, anyway?
I should’ve asked this in the beginning as it’s a good idea to start with “why”. But I decided to tackle the practicalities of getting PDUs first, as that’s what most people are looking for.
Have you asked yourself: “Why am I getting PDUs”? Of course, it’s always possible to answer this question with “Because PMI obliges me to”. But it would work out much better if the answer is rooted in the internal motivation.
Continuous education is good for the mind
Constantly challenging ourselves to learn new things and try new approaches keeps us sharp and relevant. There’s nothing static in this world; everything living either develops or degrades.
Planning and consistency
Don’t let PDUs be an afterthought and end up in a situation where you realize that you need to get 40 more PDUs two months before your renewal cycle ends. Still definitely possible, but that would be stressful. However, if you listen to a single hour of a PM podcast a week starting now, you’ll earn enough PDUs in less than a year.
Look at the Talent Triangle domains and think which materials and activities could help you develop those skills in the next few months. Be consistent and strategic about it, and you’ll gain enough PDUs before you know it, and will take pleasure in doing so.
A few more practical questions about PDUs
What happens if I don’t submit 60 PDUs in 3 years?
If you don’t submit enough PDUs within the renewal cycle, your certification goes into the “suspended” status for a year – so technically you can’t refer to yourself as PMP during that time – but if you complete the requirements within that year, your status will be renewed.
However, if you don’t take action within a year, the credential lapses completely, so you’ll need to pay the full exam price and go through the whole PMP earning process all over again.
Related: Should I renew my professional certification or let it expire?
Can I log the same PDU for multiple certifications?
Yes, if a PDU is relevant for more than one certification, it counts towards each one.