Is CMMI compatible with Scrum? I don't see anything in Scrum about it.

Dear Appraiser,


I know CMMI can help us, but we're a Scrum shop. We need to know if CMMI is compatible with Scrum.  Specifically, what about CM (Configuration Management) and CM SP3.2 (perform configuration audits).  

We've written a lot about the subject of CMMI and Scrum (and other agile methods such as XP and Spiral) and the answer is "YES!"  Scrum is a methodology, and the CMMI is a model of a great company.  It is methodology agnostic, so can be used with any agile or other methodology.

Read the detail in "CMMI or Agile: Why not Embrace Both!" that was co-written by Glazer, Dalton (me!), Anderson, Konrad (SEI), and Shrum (SEI).  You can find it at www.broadswordsolutions.com/resources in our free "Premium Resources" section.

The biggest problem is one of imagination.  For instance the CMMI guides you to have regular status and milestone meetings.  "MEETINGS?!!!!  We're agile, we don't do MEETINGS!" say many of my agile purista friends.   ahem....you don't do meetings?  How about the daily standup?  How about the Scrum demo?  How about almost EVERYTHING you do?  Scrum is about collaboration if it's about nothing else, and collaboration happens mostly in meetings.

So keep an open mind and think outside the box.

The CMMI talks a lot about estimating.  Planning poker, fibonacci cards, story points?  All good.
The CMMI talks a lot about configuration management.  What?  You don't manage your code with CVS, SourceSafe, Collabnet, or something else?  That's not Scrum.  That's just dumb.

All CM SP3.2 is about is making sure the code and important artifacts are in fact being managed properly.  It means someone is checking to make sure dumb stuff isn't happening.  But it's not in Scrum.

Sometimes Scrum (or anything else) has gaps.  This is where the CMMI can really help you.

Round out what you really like (Scrum, XP, etc) with the CMMI.  It will transform you from good to great!

www.broadswordsolutions.com