Why are PDUs Important?

Employers are now seeking project managers who regularly update and moderate their professional competencies. PMI’s Talent Triangle is unchanged: strategic business, technical, and interpersonal skills are key. PMI’s recently announced initiatives encourage project managers to improve their, and their team’s skillset in Adaptive Project Management, data-supported decision making, and global virtual team stakeholder management. For instance, as team lead for a global virtual team hackathon, you could acquire leadership and strategic PDUs for project management professional development.

PDUs help contribute to ongoing professional growth. PMI’s recently released Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) cycle will help proficient practitioners become highly skilled practitioners. PDU acquisition across many PDU categories, e.g. attending PMI Brightline strategy webinars, taking technical micro-courses on Kanban Boards, means you will achieve both depth and breadth of professional competence. This depth and breadth is, more importantly, a differentiator for PMP credentials in the 2025 project management labour market.

How Many PDUs Are Needed For PMP Certification Renewal?

PMI’s broad PDU classification under the heads - ‘giving back ’ and ‘education’ have further categories that need a mention.

PDUs for PMP in the ‘education’ category has further subdivisions, which are:

• Division A- Candidates earn PDUs by undertaking courses imparted by PMI chapters, communities, ATPs, G.A.C
• Division B- This refers to continuing project management education.
• Division C- It comprises self-directed learning.

PMI has set out the 2025 rules stating education PDUs must include at least 35, with a minimum of 8 PDUs earned in each Talent Triangle area (leadership, technical, and strategic). The remaining 11 PDUs may be earned flexibly across any area of the Talent Triangle. For "Giving Back" activities (eLearning module development, organizing PMI virtual events, peer volunteer opportunities, etc.), you can claim up to 25 Giving Back PDUs, however, only 8 can come from your usual, day-to-day professional work.

Candidates should be alert not to cross the count of 30 while acquiring PDUs in the C division. PMI mandates that these three divisions should account for a minimum of 35 of the 60 PDUs one is to earn. Free PDUs are available in all the 3 divisions.

One can earn free PMP PDUs only in the third division of the ‘giving back’ PDU category. This too has 3 divisions, namely:

• Division D - This includes knowledge creation.
• Division E - It comprises volunteering work.
• Division F - It is related to professional experience. Earning free PDUs in this division during the certification validity period is restricted to 8 in number.

Overall, a candidate can collect not more than a total of 25 PDUs from these 3 subdivisions.

How To Earn Free PMP PDUs?

Free PDUs in Divisions A and B: A candidate has to seek the help of online resources for this purpose.

Free PDUs in Division C: This is the easiest way to meet a section of PMI’s PDU requirement criteria for bookworms. Within this category, one needs to read project management books thoroughly. For claiming a PDU, the reader must maintain a track of notes taken while reading along with the respective dates and times of starting and finishing the book. PMI will count the PDUs as per the one-hour activity benchmark.

This division limits the number of earning PMP PDUs to 30. So, avid readers can make the most of it. PMI leaves candidates with a choice between reading and watching webinars. The second option is an opportunity for non-book lovers. An hour of watching a webinar is fit for claiming one free PDU. An individual must note down the video duration and the date of viewing it for producing it to PMI.

Why Prefer Earning Paid Over Free PMP PDUs?

It is certainly advantageous to opt for attaining paid PDUs for the following reasons:

• It becomes an arduous task to report to PMI each time after earning a PDU from a free resource. That is not the case while earning a paid PDU. It is the responsibility of the training provider to cater to an individual’s PDU needs. He doesn’t have to claim for individual PDUs one at a time and can produce the entire record within the provided timeline.
• One cannot get an insight into the expertise and knowledge while earning free PDUs. On the other hand, paid PDUs always have new skills waiting for a professional to learn. For example, MS projects, communication techniques, Six Sigma, etc. Unlike in the case of paid PDUs, one needs to keep track of the free PDU claims on one’s own.

How Many PDUs Can One Claim As A Practitioner PMP?

5 PDUs is the earning limit for a year as a practitioner in project management. An individual can gather only up to a total of 8 during every 3-year cycle. The remaining can be earned in the aforementioned categories all of which focus on gaining knowledge.

Here is a list of the other activities directed to making it to the score of 60 PDUs for PMP Certification renewal.

• A formal PMP Training.
• Reading
• Organization meetings.
• Informal learning.
• Watch webinars and podcasts to acquire knowledge and take down notes.
• Content creation like informative blogs or white papers related to the concerned field.
• Professional work experience in project management.
• Offer volunteer project management service to an organization.
• Share knowledge by training others and offering presentations.

After all the explanation so far, does still any confusion remain for those pursuing PMP Certification?

The answer is yes. Individuals must be familiar with the PDU earning limitations set by PMI in the different categories. A clear picture of it should be there in their mind, which is as follows:

• One can’t earn more than 25 PDUs in the second major category named ‘giving back to profession’.
• As discussed earlier, an individual is free to obtain 35 PDUs or more in the first broad category termed ‘education’.
• Of these 35 PDUs, 8 each must belong to strategic, technical, and leadership skill areas. The remaining 11 can belong to any of these 3 areas that form PMI’s Talent Triangle.
• Candidates can choose any subdivision under the ‘education’ head to acquire all their PDUs for PMP recertification.

Thus, it is clear that one doesn’t need to be a highly experienced professional for gathering the required PDUs. Instead, they can keep educating themselves and work as certified professionals simultaneously, to scale heights in this domain.

Earning PDUs for the certification can actually be rewarding. Publishing content online is one of the prescribed PDU collecting tasks. Individuals may turn out to be potential authors over the internet while putting out content on such tasks. They can even post blogs and articles relevant to project management. This enriches them professionally as volunteer trainers or teachers to all aspirants out there who seek guidance online. Creating platforms for discussions on such topics provides them media exposure, as well.

Team leadership skills do contribute to PMP PDU requirements. Leading a project team enables an aspirant to become a project management practitioner. This counts as a significant PDU activity while the number of PDUs depends on the duration or areas of performance. Even an hour at an informal discussion with like minded professionals on a web platform is worth 1 PDU. Thus, project management PDUs ensure that professionals always spend quality time outside working hours.