How Scrum helps with CMMI

For organizations that use CMMI for process improvement, Scrum provides lean and professional solutions for the management of complex projects. This article describes how you can use both CMMI and Scrum together, and how both benefit from each other.

How Scrum and CMMI fit together

CMMI is a collection of good practices that are typically done by a professional development organization. CMMI describes "what" to do. Every organization establishes its own way of "how" to do it. Identifying your own way of work that fits your organization's culture is one of the key points of CMMI. Why? Because the way an organization works rests on the cultural principles and the business values of that organization. CMMI is a coach that asks you the right questions to facilitate you in finding solutions that fit your organization's culture and that consider all the important things.

This is how Scrum and CMMI fit perfectly together. While CMMI lists e.g. the good practices of project management, Scrum provides a concrete solution that you can apply in your project. Scrum is one of the agile frameworks and rests on agile values. Scrum is therefore a good solution for the project management practices of CMMI for organizations that apply agile values.

Scrum and CMMI enhance each other

Basically, agile values, Scrum and CMMI are an excellent complement to one another. Both overlap in their claim for discipline (Scrum) or professionalism (CMMI). Agile organizations can extend the Scrum framework beyond projects with the help of a CMMI. It supports you in establishing agile solutions e.g. for leadership. On the other hand organizations that use CMMI can establish lean techniques with Scrum. Read more in our article "Scrum and CMMI – Does it fit together?"

In this Article: Mapping of Scrum and CMMI

In this article we describe which CMMI practices are implemented by Scrum: who does it, how it is implemented, and what is the result. The article is a guide for organizations that implement Scrum as and at the same time use and appreciate the orientation of CMMI.

Requirements Management (REQM) in Scrum

Scrum implements an efficient and lean requirements management. Scrum implements all the practices you expect from professional requirements management. Even if it looks very lean from the perspective of a more "classic" project: the check with CMMI shows that all practices of requirements management (REQM) are fully implemented by Scrum.

Project Planning (PP) in Scrum

Scrum implements most practices of project planning. Scrum provides surprisingly simple solutions. However, the simplicity is achieved by smart solutions, and not by omitting.

A good example for smart solutions is the implementation of the work breakdown structure. Scrum uses the items in the product backlog (the requirements) as the top level for planning. With this, Scrum provides a smart solution for the classic problem of project management: to keep requirements and plans in sync. The smart solution also simplifies monitoring the plans, because there is less to monitor. Moreover, the simpler solutions support the team's discipline because it is less effort to maintain things.

The comparison with CMMI shows two topics where Scrum does not provide an off-the-shelf answer. This is risk management and data management. If you think both are important (which they probably are) a Scrum team can extend the framework with little effort. In the table below we provide an example how this can be done.

There are some topics that Scrum addresses largely but not fully. E.g. Scrum provides a project plan but does not address a budget explicitly. In many cases this can be sufficient, but there are also projects where the Product Owner will request a budget or the planning of other resources (besides people) from the team. In this case Team, Product Owner and ScrumMaster should establish a solution that fits the Scrum framework and the agile values.

Estimation in Scrum

Project Plan in Scrum

Commitment in Scrum

Project Monitoring and Control (PMC) in Scrum

Project monitoring is one of the clear strengths of Scrum. Doing the work and identifying issues as early as possible ("inspect and adapt") is one of the key principles of Scrum. The team monitors the Sprint Backlog and the Impediment Backlog in the Daily Scrum. The Sprint Burndown chart further supports monitoring. The results of a Sprint are reviewed in the Sprint Review, and the way of work is reviewed in the Sprint Retrospective. Impediments are recorded in the impediment backlog and tracked to closure by the Scrum Master. Scrum rigorously implements the "Plan-Do-Check-Act" cycle that CMMI suggests as a good practice.

However, Scrum does not address risk and data management, neither in planning nor in monitoring. However, if the Scrum framework is extended with little effort to include risk or data management, the normal monitoring mechanisms also work for risks and data.

Monitoring of the Plan in Scrum

Manage Corrective Actions in Scrum

Why use both Scrum and CMMI?

This article shows that Scrum provides lean but nevertheless complete solutions for all the topics that professional requirements and project management requires. The particular charm lies in the smart solutions and in the feasibility of the planning and monitoring solutions. We also showed the value that lies in CMMI: the check showed us two topics that are not addressed in off-the-shelf Scrum implementations, and thus we came up with two extensions of the Scrum framework that address risk and data management with little extensions that cause minor effort – if at all.

About the Authors

David Croome and Malte Foegen use Scrum for the management of projects since several years. They know Scrum from every day project work. Malte Foegen is also SEI Certified Lead Appraiser. David Croome and Malte Foegen have come to love both Scrum and CMMI, because they have seen which value both can bring to organizations if they are used properly and with professional knowledge. With this article they provide guidance for users who want to use agile solutions in a CMMI environment how to use both. This article shows also that Scrum must be implemented fully and properly to take effect.

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