Let's talk about something we all love: ROI.

Let's talk about return on investment in the context of something we all need: project management (PM). If you're like most CIOs, it's your job to make sure project management improves under your watch. Your performance -- and your bonus if you get one -- may very well be tied to achieving ROI.

If yet another discussion of ROI brings on an automatic headache, we've got good news: You can tie PM to ROI, but you've got to be willing to do some work to close the proverbial loop.

We suggest starting with an internal "investigation" of sorts. One way to determine if PM is alive and well at your company is to ask these kinds of questions:

• Has PM education and training helped?
• Is it easy for the whole team to understand what gets produced, by whom and when?
• What's the turnover rate among PM leaders?
• How many staff members have PM certifications?

The idea is to evaluate PM as you would an employee. Is your project management office (PMO) meeting its goals?