3 Key Metrics for Measuring Software Quality

As a software architect, software quality is always on top of the priority and we are measured by the quality we deliver. While we have many tools to measure & control software quality, but before the how part, the first step is to figure out what to measure for quality?

In my experience and expertise, there are three dimensions of quality as part of delivering product/software:

1. Build Quality: Code quality meeting functional & non-functional requirements
2. Delivery Quality: Delivering Code does not always help; business/executive team likes to measure success in terms of cost, time & quality
3. Functional Quality: To ensure code propagated to production meets all testing nuances

For each of the dimensions, having a defined "Quality Index" based on metrics applicable for your organization or product helps to build and deliver a better quality product.

Once the metrics have been defined, automating capturing/measuring these metrics, monitoring regularly and acting based on the information to improve iteratively helps to improve progressively.

Based on above, Software Quality Index needs to be defined, measured and baselined for each product:

To conclude, strategy to define software quality is usually tailored for each organization & does not need to be an afterthought.