A Portfolio of Internal Quality Metrics for Software Architects

Evolving the architecture of the software together with the evolution of the design is one of the key areas in maintaining the high quality. In this paper we present a portfolio of indicators addressing a set of three areas of information needs for large software development companies of embedded software. The portfolio is a result of our studies of literature and at Software Center (nine companies and five universities) with the goal to identify the main information needs and quality metrics for the role of software architects. As a result of our studies we could elicit such information needs as architecture measures, design stability, and technical debt/risk. Nine information needs with one corresponding indicator each fulfill these information needs were identified in literature and through the interviews and workshops with the practitioners.