I came across this blog post today, and it made me think of perhaps what might be the most accurate metric of software development:  WYSOT (what your significant other thinks).

The blog article that caught my eye was entitled "The smoothest end game ever… but why?" It is from the Rational Team Concert team blog; the opening paragraph is quoted below:

"About a month ago, my wife, who has lived through 20 years of software deliveries with me at IBM, turned to me and asked “Aren’t you guys shipping Rational Team Concert real soon now? You don’t seem nearly stressed out enough - is it still happening?” I assured her that we were still shipping on time, but that, for some reason, this was the smoothest delivery I had ever experienced."

Their WYSOT measure must be pretty good; if you can keep your significant other happy during a ship cycle and still ship on time, then your software development process must be pretty solid