Maturity Models for Agile Software Development: What Are They?

Abstract

Aiming at process maturity and agility, various studies have proposed combinations of CMMI-DEV with agile methods. Yet other studies have proposed maturity models founded on agility, focused on agile process improvement. These agile maturity models define different structures, approaches and underlying concepts for agile maturity. This study aims at presenting them in a unified manner by identifying the studies, analyzing the proposed models and comparing them. The research approach was the systematic literature review on scientific databases. Based on the 14 models found, we analyzed levels’ structures, maturity concept, assessment methods and mature practices. Our results show that current maturity models do not agree in some aspects but converge in others. Based on these findings, we suggest future studies to enrich process improvement knowledge in agile methods.