Agile Methods and CMMI: Compatibility or Conflict?

During the last years, agile methods like eXtreme Programming have become increasingly popular. Parallel to this, more and more organizations rely on process maturity models to assess and improve their own processes or those of suppliers, since it has been getting clear that most project failures can be imputed to inconsistent, undisciplined processes. Many organizations demand CMMI compliance of projects where agile methods are employed. In this situation it is necessary to analyze the interrelations and mutual restrictions between agile methods and approaches for software process analysis and improvement. This paper analyzes to what extent the CMMI process areas can be covered by XP and where adjustments of XP have to be made. Based on this, we describe the limitations of CMMI in an agile environment and show that level 4 or 5 are not feasible under the current specifications of CMMI and XP.