One of the few meaningful metrics I saw was Keith Braithwaite's. He measured the slope of a log/log comparison of method complexity vs. number of methods of that complexity. It turns out that there was a very strong association between the gradient and whether a code base had unit test coverage (suggesting TDD). Kent Beck did some similar work on power laws in code during his time at Facebook.
It's not a causal relationship but it's a very interesting indicator and, most relevantly, very difficult to game.
The only online description I can find is at https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/keith-braithwaite-measure-for-measure/309236
One of the few meaningful metrics I saw was Keith Braithwaite's. He measured the slope of a log/log comparison of method complexity vs. number of methods of that complexity. It turns out that there was a very strong association between the gradient and whether a code base had unit test coverage (suggesting TDD). Kent Beck did some similar work on power laws in code during his time at Facebook.
It's not a causal relationship but it's a very interesting indicator and, most relevantly, very difficult to game.
The only online description I can find is at https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/keith-braithwaite-measure-for-measure/309236