I just went through a “CMMi check” on a Scrum project where I am the ScrumMaster. We read a lot about the connections or equivalences between CMMi and Scrum, for example in an appendix of Ken Schwaber’s book (“Agile Project Management”). Particularly regarding the practices covered by Scrum concerning CMMI. I remain quite skeptical about this desire to bring these two methods closer together because I perceive for now that it’s only done to reassure certain clients, or to build a commercial argument. Currently -in the company for which I’m still working for two more months- it’s quite caricatural: the scrumers mock the cmmis and vice-versa. I also play at this a lot myself. It’s relaxing, you know. But I suppose that a real analysis of CMMi practices (as they are implemented here) through the lens of Scrum would provide a real (counter)analysis and would allow the model to evolve. And vice-versa there too.

Anyway, in any case I just went through a “check”: they verify the application of CMMi practices on your projects within the “agency”. Among the strong points that came up was the Scrum project, particularly on the PMC practice (basically project management): visibility and team involvement (the information radiator, the stand-up meetings, etc.), but also on the VER practice (verification): integration and acceptance testing by the client at each iteration. In short: The CMMi auditor is probably less narrow-minded than me and observed the Scrum practices with interest!