From the feedback I got for my questions and letters regarding the quality of software projects, I can tell you one metric software developers look for.

Test Coverage

Well, that was no real surprise, was it?

Let me tell you another metric:

Documentation

Can you guess who cares for that? Users of your software. They don’t care for tests. But they want to know how to use the thing they paid for. (Even if it’s OSS they do pay for it: With their attention and time.)

Project managers on the other hand might care about both metrics. Most of the time, I’d wager, they care even more about planning and risk management of the project. As I am married to a wonderful wife who works as a great project manager, I’ll verify this statement tonight 😆. (I’ll report back)

The person authorizing the budget might care the most about the costs. And yes, the price (in 💵💶💷💴) people have to pay for your results is a quality metric of itself.

My point is this: While there are many different aspects for the quality of a project, which one you should put a priority on depends on your target audience.

Yours, Holger