Recommended books for earning PMP PDUs

Can I earn PDUs from reading books?

“Yes!” If you love to read, here are some recommended books along with the number of PDUs you can earn, the category it belongs to as well as the cost range for each one.

Please note that the categories have been updated based on the new guidelines from PMI:
– Ways of Working (formerly Technical Project Management)
– Power Skills (formerly Leadership)
– Business Acumen (formerly Strategic and Business Management)

How many PDUS can I claim from books?

The requirements for earning PDUs is similar to others:

If your certification is…	PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-PBA, PMI-ACP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP
For 1 hour of this activity you can claim the following # of PDUs	1
Documentation needed	Notes and dates related to your readings

Note: I’ve estimated how long it would take to read each book and translated that time into PDUs (based on an average reading speed of 250 words per minute).

Now you can quickly see how many PDUs you can earn from each book.

Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation

Karen Martin, Mike Osterling

Strategic: 2.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

Brené Brown

Leadership: 5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Jeff Sutherland

Ways of Working: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

101 Project Management Problems and How to Solve Them

Tom Kendrick

Technical: 4.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum

Mike Cohn

Technical: 8.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford

Technical: 8.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, Hybrid

Robert K. Wysoc

Technical: 11 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

Leading Transformation: How to Take Charge of Your Company’s Future

Nathan Furr, Kyle Nel, Thomas Zoega Ramsoy

Leadership: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

Camille Fournier

Leadership: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product

Jeff Patton

Technical: 5.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time

Rob Shallenberger, Steve Shallenberger

Leadership: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Retrospectives Antipatterns

Aino Vonge Corry

Technical: 5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Data-Driven Project Manager: A Statistical Battle Against Project Obstacles

Mario Vanhoucke

Technical: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals Paperback

Sean Covey, Chris McChesney

Strategic: 4.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Product Management in Practice: A Real-World Guide to the Key Connective Role of the 21st Century

Matt LeMay

Technical: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

To save on costs…

Purchase the Kindle or audiobook versions of these books. Usually it’s significantly cheaper than the paperback or hardcover versions and the apps you use to read them are free.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

Leadership: 3.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

The Future Leader

Jacob Morgan

Leadership: 5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Agile Project Management: 3 books in 1

Andy Vickler

Strategic: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Long-Distance Leader

Kevin Eikenberry, Wayne Turmel

Leadership: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Great Mondays: How to Design a Company Culture Employees Love

Josh Levine

Leadership: 2 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Applied Software Project Management

Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene

Technical: 5.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

Patrick Bet-David

Strategic: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t

Jim Collins

Technical: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

Teresa Amabile

Leadership: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Designed for Digital: How to Architect Your Business for Sustained Success (Management on the Cutting Edge)

Jeanne W. Ross, Cynthia M. Beath, Martin Mocker

Strategic: 3.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

Eric Ries

Technical: 8.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Patrick M. Lencioni

Leadership: 2 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Strategic Project Management Made Simple: Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams

Terry Schmidt

Technical: 4.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework

Mik Kersten

Strategic: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow

Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais

Leadership: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams

Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson, Nate Walkingshaw

Technical: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior

Tom DeMarco, Peter Hruschka, Tim Lister, Steve McMenamin, James Robertson

Technical: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Art of Agile Product Ownership: A Guide for Product Managers, Business Analysts, and Entrepreneurs

Allan Kelly

Technical: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

To save on effort…

Use audiobooks to make it easier to multi-task. You can listen on your commute to work, while exercising or while doing household chores.

Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process

Kenneth Rubin

Strategic: 8.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams

Tom Demarco

Leadership: 4.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Real-World Kanban: Do Less, Accomplish More with Lean Thinking

Mattias Skarin

Technical: 2.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People

Alan Willlett

Leadership: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love

Roman Pichler

Strategic: 2.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer

Jeffrey Liker, Gary L. Convis

Leadership: 8 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

Building A Winning Team: Technical Leadership Capabilities

Robina Chatham, Brian Sutton

Leadership: 1.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

Simon Sinek

Leadership: 5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Leading Change

John P. Kotter

Leadership: 0.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster

Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz

Technical: 7.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: High

Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT

Paul Marciano

Leadership: 2.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Agile Estimating and Planning

Mike Cohn

Strategic: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

More Fearless Change: Strategies for Making Your Ideas Happen

Mary Lynn Manns, Linda Rising

Leadership: 5.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

To save on costs…

If you are an avid reader, consider getting an Kindle Unlimited Membership Plan. Not only will you have access to the eBooks needed for your PMI certification renewal, you will also have access to millions of titles to read for leisure as well.

The Agile Guide to Business Analysis and Planning: From Strategic Plan to Detailed Requirements

Howard Podeswa

Technical: 13.5 PDUs Cost: Medium Effort: Low Time: High

Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products

Jim Highsmith

Strategic: 7 PDUs Cost: Medium Effort: Low Time: High

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

Esther Derby

Technical: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

Principle-Centered Leadership

Stephen R. Covey

Leadership: 5.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development

Mike Cohn

Technical: 5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Kanban in Action

Marcus Hammarberg, Joakim Sunden

Technical: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The DNA of Strategy Execution

Jack Duggal

Strategic: 5.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know

Gunther Verheyen

Technical: 4.5 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Simon Sinek

Leadership: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos

Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk, Steve Berez

Technical: 4 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition

Lyssa Adkins

Technical: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

Agile Project Management with Scrum

Ken Schwaber

Technical: 3 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Low

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently

Gallup Press

Leadership: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

The Design Thinking Playbook: Mindful Digital Transformation of Teams, Products, Services, Businesses and Ecosystems

Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link, Larry Leifer

Ways of Working: 6 PDUs Cost: Low Effort: Low Time: Medium

To save on costs…

Check out the book or eBook from your local library. More and more libraries provide access to eBooks through services like Overdrive or CloudLibrary (in the U.S. or Canada). Check to see if your local library system is included.