SEI publishes report integrating CMMI and Agile

Posted by Manoel Pimentel , translated by Felipe Rodrigues on Nov 17, 2008

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Last week was hot in international scenario on software development. The SEI (Software Engineering Institute) recently published a report entitled " CMMI or Agile: Why Not Embrace Both!", which addresses the integration between the ideas and practices of the CMMI with the ideas and practices of Agile as something possible in software development projects.

According to the document, which counted on participation of some famous agilists as David Anderson, the focus of this initiative is:

More dialogue would be healthy and beneficial for users, the paradigms, and the broader community.

Also in another sentence of the document, which is explained the desired result of that:

We hope this report encourages both CMMI and Agile proponents (ideally, everyone in software related industries) to do the following:

1. Recognize the value of each paradigm.
2. Resist common misperceptions.
3. Continue experimenting, learning, and reporting on what works and in which contexts.

The document also addresses other issues such as:

• The Origins of Agile Methods
• The Origins of CMMI
• Lack of Accurate Information
• Terminology Difficulties
• There Is Value in Both Paradigms
• Challenges When Using Agile
• Challenges When Using CMMI
• Problems Not Solved by CMMI nor Agile

In general, different reactions have occurred by the agile community, especially in Brazil (see messages in portuguese here Visão Ágil and here Scrum-Brazil, where many feel that this is pure opportunism, because they can’t see the synergy between these two worlds. And others see this as a good opportunity for all and a great chance to fix some problems from the past, on the understanding and adoption of Agile and CMMI itself.

But in truth, this was only the first step towards a clearer synergy between Agile and CMMI and perhaps there are still many questions that only with continuous experimentation and adjustment, we could really know whether this relationship is possible and more important if it is healthy.

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