Here is an experience report on the results of introducing Scrum into a CMMI Level 5 environment to replace waterfall projects for large defense and healthcare contracts (pdf).
Abstract:
Projects combining agile methods with
CMMI1 are more successful in producing
higher quality software that more
effectively meets customer needs at a
faster pace. Systematic Software
Engineering works at CMMI level 5 and
uses Lean Software Development as a
driver for optimizing software
processes. Early pilot projects at
Systematic showed productivity on
Scrum teams almost twice that of
traditional teams. Other projects
demonstrated a story based test driven
approach to software development
reduced defects found during final
test by 40%. We assert that Scrum and
CMMI together bring a more powerful
combination of adaptability and
predictability than either one alone
and suggest how other companies can
combine them.
HTH,
