Challenges in Combining Agile Development and CMMI: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Recently, Agile Development has emerged as an alternative approach in software engineering. The Agile Software Development (ASD) process provides the ability to cope with ever-changing requirements. On the other hand, the Capability Maturity Model Integration, one of the Software Process Improvement Framework, is widely used to provide software development organizations with structure and stability in their software process. It enables organizations to generate software processes with better quality software, the productivity increase of the development team, and minimal risk of failure. The idea behind combining the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and Agile aims to create a software development procedure that is stable and continues to improve while also providing agility for dealing with dynamic business needs. This research compiles the experiences of combining both software and identifies challenges for the collaborative implementation process. This study also highlights the extent of the compatibility of CMMI and Agile Development. This research followed a standardized Systematic Literature Review procedure and used the approach known as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses or PRISMA. The findings indicate that the main challenges with regard to combining CMMI and Agile are the lack of relevant knowledge and experience and the culture of CMMI, Agile, or sometimes both. The limited scope of Agile itself poses another considerable challenge. Agile focuses on software development projects, while CMMI has a broader range, from project-level development to organization-level process improvement. This review also finds that Agile Development is compatible with CMMI at a maturity level of 2 and 3. Future studies should determine the optimal method for overcoming the obstacles associated with combining CMMI and Agile.