Making Software Metrics Useful
This work targets software engineers and researchers by highlighting a foundational gap in applying metrics effectively, though it is incremental as it critiques existing approaches without presenting new empirical results.
The paper addresses the problem of software metrics being rarely used for practical decisions in software development, despite their availability, and argues that this issue stems from a lack of understanding of metrology, proposing new research directions to make metrics more useful.
Most engineers use measurements to make decisions. However, measurements are rarely used for decisions about constructing software products. While many approaches to measuring attributes of software (``metrics'') have been developed, they are rarely used to answer useful questions such as ``Do I need to refactor this class?'' or ``Are these integration tests sufficient?'' Practitioners therefore question the value of software metrics. We argue that this situation arose because software metrics were developed without understanding metrology (the science of measurement) and suggest directions software metrics research should take.