This paper develops an improved structural software complexity metrics named information flow complexity which is closely related to the reliability of software. Together with the three software complexity metrics, the total software complexity is measured and some rules to reduce the complexity are presented in the paper. To illustrate and explain the process of measurement and reduction of software complexity, several examples and experiments are given. It is proposed that software complexity metrics can be measured earlier in software development and can provide substantial information of software systems whose reliability can be modeled and used in the determination of initial parameter estimation.