Author: The MPUG Community
MPUG has a global network of over 200,000 project management professionals across 170+ countries. For over 25 years, it has served as a premier platform fostering connection, knowledge sharing, and professional development within the project management community. MPUG champions the use of technology to optimize project management processes. It offers a comprehensive suite of resources and services, including live sessions, accredited training courses, informative lessons, industry articles, and interactive discussion forums. Committed to empowering its members to "Master Projects for Unlimited Growth," MPUG equips our members with the latest industry trends and propels their career advancement. Whether you're a budding project manager or a seasoned practitioner, MPUG provides an invaluable platform to hone your skills and bolster your project management expertise.
The Accidental Project Manager: Navigating Uncharted Waters
Discover the unique value of accidental project managers, their challenges, and how targeted training can transform them into effective leaders in project management.
Balancing AI and Human Expertise in Project Management: The 4 C’s Framework
Discover how to balance AI and human expertise in project management using the 4 C's Framework: Critical thinking, Communication, Creativity, and Collaboration.
The New Microsoft Planner: Revolutionary Tool or Overhyped Update?
Explore the new Microsoft Planner's features, capabilities, and potential impact on project management, including insights from user experiences and details on live lessons.
Mission Statement Analysis: The Key to Effective Stakeholder Management
Learn how to leverage mission statement analysis for effective stakeholder management, aligning organizational goals with stakeholder needs for better business outcomes.
Extended EMPWR.AI Free Trial is Now Available for MPUG Members
For the past few months a number of MPUG members have been working with Envorso on a new AI tool for project managers called Empwr.ai. They recently started inviting project managers to use the tool for an extended free trial while they are in beta testing. We want to extend the offer to you because the Empwr.ai founders are looking for feedback from project managers like you. The Empwr.ai team is on a mission to unlock the power of the world’s unstructured business data. They are planning to enable powerful automations and illuminate previously hidden insights. Today, Empwr.ai turns your Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, and Slack meetings into sharable AI-generated meeting outcomes that include: Simply invite the Empwr.ai Meeting Analyzer (bot@empwr.ai) to your calls It will join like any other attendee to take notes. After the meeting is complete, it will send access to meeting outcomes to all attendees. Empwr.ai provides a secure and organized library for your meeting outcomes and you can easily copy and paste sections of the outcomes into emails or documentation. Getting started couldn’t be easier Click here for more details on getting started Once you sign up for an account, email one of the founders, Jeremiah Seraphine (js@empwr.ai) to let him know you’re associated with MPUG, and he will extend your free trial. All he asks is that you provide feedback about your experience.
How to Keep Your PMP Certificate Current with MPUG: A Guide for Project Managers
Congratulations on earning your Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification! As a college graduate or project manager, you have demonstrated your expertise in the field of project management by successfully completing the rigorous certification process. However, your professional development journey doesn’t end here. In a constantly evolving project management landscape, it is crucial to stay relevant and up-to-date with the latest trends, best practices, and methodologies. The Project Management Institute (PMI)® recognizes the importance of continuous professional development and has established a requirement for PMP® certification holders to earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) every three years. PDUs are the currency of professional development, and earning them ensures that you remain at the forefront of the project management profession. Maintaining your PMP certification is a commitment to lifelong learning and professional growth. By earning PDUs, you not only extend the validity of your certification but also enhance your skills and knowledge, making you a more valuable asset to your organization and the project management community. In this article, we will explore the significance of earning PDUs and the requirements you need to fulfill to maintain your PMP certification. We will also introduce you to the concept of PMI’s Talent Triangle, which provides a framework for earning PDUs in various areas of project management. Step 1: Understand the significance of earning PDUs and how it contributes to your professional growth and the recognition of your expertise. Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the PDU requirements for maintaining your PMP certification, including the total number of PDUs needed and their distribution across different categories. By the end of this article, you will have a solid understanding of the importance of earning PDUs and the specific requirements you need to meet to keep your PMP certification current. This foundation will prepare you for exploring the various ways to earn PDUs and the process of tracking and recording your professional development activities. Significance of Earning PDUs Earning Professional Development Units (PDUs) is crucial for maintaining your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. The PMP certification is a globally recognized and respected credential that demonstrates your expertise in project management. However, to ensure that your knowledge and skills remain relevant and up-to-date in the ever-evolving field of project management, you need to continuously engage in professional development activities. PDUs serve as a measure of your commitment to ongoing learning and professional growth. By earning PDUs, you demonstrate to employers, clients, and the project management community that you are dedicated to staying current with the latest trends, best practices, and methodologies in the field. Here are some key reasons why earning PDUs is significant: PDU Requirements The PMP certification requires you to earn and record 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) every three years to maintain your credential. This 60 PDU requirement is divided into two main categories: The formula for calculating PDUs is simple: One hour of learning or qualifying activity = One PDU. Education Category (Minimum 35 PDUs) To ensure that your knowledge remains broad and balanced, PMI requires you to earn PDUs across the three areas of the Talent Triangle: The remaining 11 PDUs can be earned in any of the three Talent Triangle areas, allowing you to focus on your areas of interest or need. Step 1: Assess Your Needs Reflect on your current skills and identify areas where you need to strengthen your knowledge or develop new competencies. Step 2: Plan Your Education Activities Choose educational activities that align with your goals and the Talent Triangle requirements. Some examples include: Giving Back to the Profession Category (Maximum 25 PDUs) Contributing to the project management profession by sharing your knowledge and expertise is a valuable way to earn PDUs. Here are some examples of qualifying activities: Work Experience PDUs: You can claim a maximum of 8 PDUs per three-year cycle for applying project management practices and methodologies in your work. To ensure proper documentation and verification, it’s essential to record your PDUs and upload supporting evidence in your My PMI Account. As you approach your three-year renewal date, PMI will send you reminders to complete your PDU requirements or make up any shortfall. Ready to Get Started? MPUG offers ample opportunities to earn PDUs on your terms. Explore our 1500+ articles and read about relevant topics to earn PDUs for free! MPUG Members get access to weekly live sessions on Wednesdays at 12:00 ET, worth 1 PDU. Replays are available on-demand in our archive of 600+ lessons, so you can earn PDUs anytime on any topic. Annual members also get access to our entire course library, where you can earn multiple PDUs and certificates.
Meet the MPUG Expert: Interview with Erik van Hurck
Erik van Hurck is a Microsoft MVP and respected voice in the project management space. He’s a Senior PPM Consultant at Projectum, a Microsoft MVP, a prolific blogger at TheProjectCornerBlog.com, and a longtime expert instructor and contributor for MPUG. With over 15 years of experience, Erik has become a go-to resource for enterprises looking to leverage the latest Microsoft technologies like Power Platform and Copilot Studio to drive PMO transformation. We connected with Erik to hear about his journey in project management, his perspective on generative AI, and some of his best PM advice. MPUG: How did you first get started in project management? Erik: I worked at a consultancy firm in the sales department. We had a couple of great consultants working with clients on Microsoft Project and Project Server. I always had a afinity for software and created an Excel file that contained the resource allocation for all our consultants. When management saw that they said, “would you like to try your luck as consultant. And put your IT skills to the test?”. I was assigned a mentor, Rémi Kneefel, and I learned a lot from him regarding Project management, Consultancy, MS Project and Project Server/Online. MPUG: What is your current position and what does it involve? Erik: Currently, I’m a Senior PPM Consultant at Projectum, assisting enterprise customers across Europe with adopting Microsoft’s Power Platform for project and portfolio management. A big part of my role is configuration of our Power PPM solution and knowledge transfer to ensure organizations get the maximum value from these powerful tools. MPUG: Your very first piece for MPUG (way back!) highlighted common flaws in project management you often see. Which bad habits are most persistent? Erik: You’d be surprised how many well-intentioned PMs fall into the trap of manually editing start and finish dates in their project schedules, rather than utilizing the project scheduling engine behind MS Project. This “date-related planning” flaw inevitably leads to situations where updating one task throws numerous successor dates out of whack. The better practice is to enter just two key dates – a project start date and a critical deadline or milestone date driving the schedule. Then establish proper precedence relationships between tasks using dependencies. This allows dates to automatically shift if a predecessor takes longer, rather than having to manually re-adjust dates across a plan. MPUG: Your recent work has focused a lot on creating effective AI assistants with Microsoft’s new Copilot Studio. What’s exciting about this generative AI solution? Erik: Copilot Studio represents a hugely powerful opportunity for PMOs to create purpose-built, AI-powered virtual assistants that can automate activities, provide intelligent recommendations, assist with documentation and training – the possibilities are immense. The real value comes from integrating these bots with an organization’s existing PM data sources, templates, and documented processes across Microsoft’s ecosystem. You can essentially create a highly knowledgeable AI assistant trained on your own PM content and practices. I’ve seen project teams get excited about capabilities like bots auto-generating reports and summaries from project data, surfacing predictive insights, and providing on-demand expertise by tapping into their own guides and process documentation. MPUG: How can Copilot Studio and AI help solve or avoid those persistent PM flaws you initially highlighted? Erik: There’s so much potential. For example, an AI assistant could be trained to analyze a project schedule and automatically identify instances of improper date constraints or missing dependencies. It could then guide PMs through remediation steps based on an organization’s best practices. Assistants could also streamline routine PM tasks through automation – generating status reports, aggregating risks and issues, ensuring conformance to processes, etc. That frees up human capacity for higher-level activities that require strategic thinking and emotional intelligence. MPUG: As a PM expert, what excites you most about generative AI and tools like Copilot Studio? Erik: I think we’re still just scratching the surface, but the potential to augment human intelligence for more efficient, data-driven project execution is huge. Imagine an AI assistant that can automatically digest all your project data – schedules, risks, issues, resource data – and synthesize that into smart recommendations and predictive insights. That fusion of human expertise and artificial intelligence is really powerful. Pragmatically in the near-term, I see great value in using Copilot bots as force multipliers – providing teams with on-demand access to guidance, best practice answers, and automating routine PM tasks. It’s about unlocking more capacity for PMs to focus on strategic priorities. MPUG: What are the top 3 PM tools or apps you can’t live without? Erik: It’s hard to narrow it down, but I’d say our Power Platform solution, called Power PPM, Microsoft Project for robust scheduling and Power BI for portfolio reporting and analytics. The Microsoft stack really provides an end-to-end solution. The combination of these 3 tools can assist any PMO with their day to day needs. And coming back to Generative AI: all but MS Project have Generative AI capabilities infused in their core features! MPUG: How has being an MPUG expert benefited your career? Erik: MPUG has been invaluable for building my expertise, sharing knowledge, and connecting with the global project management community. Authoring articles and delivering webinars has helped reinforce my skills and position me as a go-to resource. The platform gives amazing exposure. MPUG: For someone new to project management, what advice would you give? Erik: Constantly learn and grow your skills (by joining MPUG for instance) because project management is always evolving. But also, don’t get too caught up in the technical details. Ultimately, it’s about people, communication, and achieving business objectives through successful execution. PMUG: Thank you for taking the time to share your insight with us! When is your next live event with MPUG? Erik: I’ll be running a webinar together with MPUG on the 29th of May, 2024. Not surprisingly it’s around Generative AI. I won’t spoil too much but the title is “4 Generative AI Prompts to Level Up Your PMO” and you can sign up here. See More of Erik’s Work Empowering Your PMO with Copilot Studio: Creating an AI-Powered Chatbot Assistant How Organizations Can Leverage Power Platform with Project for the web Who is Microsoft Project for the web Designed For? Learn with Erik Live 4 Generative AI Prompts to Level Up Your PMO Wednesday, May 29, 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET
The Future of Project Management is Flexible: PMI’s 15th Annual Report Reveals Key Trends
The Project Management Institute's latest Pulse of the Profession report highlights the rise of flexible, hybrid approaches, remote work trends, and the importance of continuous learning and empowering teams for driving project success.