I encountered a developer who wanted some outside advice on their teams project. I found out they're developing a huge software suite for the companies executives, project manager and developers that can calculate metrics automatically and graph them per iteration.

As a student from a computer science background I know very little on metrics and their importance, but my questions are:

1. Do most companies have some way, doesn't have to be an elegant program, to measure meaningful metrics?
2. Which metrics, single or combined, help you narrow down your projects scope and estimates?
3. As a person who analyzes metrics, how often do you base decisions off of them? IE. Tests failed per week is increasing drastically?
4. Do you feel that the introduction of studying metrics has helped you understand the project better?

Not sure why but the developers project intrigued me and I must know more. If y