When I was a kid, the neighborhood metric for judging the health of a corn crop was, "knee high by the fourth of July." Since we lived in the city, it's not clear how the locals ever came up with that measurement. Maybe my mother was the source, since she was born in Iowa.

So what does a farmer do? Does he have to pass the ROI knee-high test before his banker gives him a loan? How does he do that? Since U.S farmers own 48 percent of the world's corn market, is getting a loan a slam dunk? Or, does the farmer position his crop as part of our nation's bio-fuel, energy independence strategy. Pass the fertilizer.

In our business, a major metric for success is ROI. When strict ROI management is combined with an appropriate downsizing strategy, the profit crop earns a standing ovation from Wall Street. And mega-bucks for senor management.

In my beginning days in this business, a hot-shot engineer with a track record to back it up could easily get funding for his pet project. He'd take a look at the competition and conclude he could do better--much better. Chances are he already had his staff working on the project--their Skunk Works. The marketing folks were silent partners in the deception. In some cases, the company founders would drive product development, and their gut feeling was ROI enough. And with few exceptions, success did not result in mega-buck payoffs for senior management.

Fast forward. Today, that hot-shot engineer, working with marketing and business development, can usually craft a story that eventually will pass the bean counter's ROI test. Only problem is it may take five times longer to get approval than it did in the past. And often the window of opportunity closes before the product gets to market. Fast-track approvals ease the pain. But for those engineers who have moved into Web development, it's often more difficult to justify funding for non-revenue-earning projects such as the main- tenance and upgrading of the company Web site. Yet, an easy-to-use, content-rich Web site is a major source of the competitive advantage. Go figure. So, what's been your experience with getting approval for your projects?