Lack of Cohesion of Methods: What Is This And Why Should You Care?

Today we take a look at lack of cohesion of methods in your codebase. What does this mean? How do you measure it? Why does it matter?

May 14, 2026 9 minutes read Lack of cohesion of methods (usually shortened to LCOM) is one of those things that sits fairly high up on the software hierarchy of needs. What’s the “software hierarchy of needs?” It’s a thing that I just made up, shamelessly copying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs . (Though in a quick search to see how effectively I’ve planted this flag, I see that Scott Hanselman had the idea before me . But mine looks a little different than his because I’m talking about the software, rather than the humans writing it.) Anyway, here’s

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