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		<title>Life Element, Inc.</title>
		<description>Talking about issues and solutions related to Requirements Analysis, Business Evaluations, Software Development, and Management Resurrection</description>
		<link>http://lifeelement.com</link>
    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:45:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>Kahn Academy</title>
      <author>Life Element</author>
      <category>Announcement</category>
      <link>http://www.khanacademy.org/</link>
      <guid>http://www.khanacademy.org/</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:45:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[
          Have you heard about <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/">Kahn Academy</a>?
          
          This movement is a more enthusiastic model for teaching people, young & old, complicated mathematics by applying a much easier methodology.
          
          It's FREE education!
			  ]]>
      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Consulting Services</title>
      <author>Life Element</author>
      <category>Consulting</category>
      <link>http://lifeelement.com/consulting.aspx</link>
      <guid>http://lifeelement.com/consulting.aspx</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:20:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[
            <h1>Consulting</h1>
            <p>
                Our virtual office is in Duluth, GA, yet we primarily service the Atlanta, GA area.
                Requirements Analysis, Business Evaluations, Software Development, and Management Resurrection are services we offer.
                Once you <a href="/contact-us.aspx">contact us</a>, give us some brief information about what you need.
                We will then schedule time to talk more, which normally last for 30 minutes to an hour.
                During that time we will learn more about you and what you need to accomplish.
                If all is well, we will then establish a package to confirm how our time will be spent serving your business needs.
                Remember, we are not always available to answer the phone so please leave a message or simply email us.
                Regardless, we will contact you soon.
            </p>
            <p>
                Do not let your assumption of high cost be an issue.  We are a new company so our services may not cost nearly as much as you think.
                It will cost you nothing to contact us to find out for yourself.  We are in a very competitive phase in our development and
                that is the only reason why we will not list our rates.
            </p>

            <a name="requirements-analysis"></a>
            <h1 style="color:#e9206e;">Requirements Analysis</h1>
            <ul>
                <li>Receive high quality product requirements documentation</li>
                <li>Gain clear UML (Unified Modeling Language) documentation</li>
                <li>Obtain properly documented business rules</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
                Every product development team needs lucid information about the purpose of the product and what the 
                product is supposed to achieve. Requirements analysis is about communicating with the domain or business expert(s)
                to document all the needs that the product should satisify. This is not about writing what the expert says word-from-word.
                It is about analyzing and verifying what they mean by their words.  It is about communicating those needs in a way that the
                product development team can understand. This involves a lot of documentation, modeling, and dedication to clearly capture the business needs.
                We can handle that aspect of your project for you.  Especially, if your resources are strected thin or if you simply do not have the proper resources.
                This lets you focus more on development as we continuously prepare the requirements for your development team.
            </p>

            <a name="business-evaluations"></a>
            <h1 style="color:#6b9007;">Business Evaluations</h1>
            <ul>
                <li>Effectively evolve your business</li>
                <li>Learn what your competitors are doing better</li>
                <li>Properly alter negative aspects into positive results</li>
                <li>Boost associate morale to unlease true productivity</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
                Have you heard or seen such shows as <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/undercover_boss/">Undercover Boss</a> and <a href="http://www.fox.com/kitchennightmares/">Kitchen Nightmares</a>?
                It is important for a business to evaluate itself through honest eyes.  These shows demonstrate that once a business
                stops evaluating itself, their value usually decreases over time allowing competitors to shine.
                The purposes of having your business evaluated by an expert of improvement strategies is so that you can evolve.  Ultimately, it is up to the business to determine
                how it wishes to evolve.  Without knowing the actual state of the business, there is no way of knowing which area to fix before moving forward.
                Who better to evaluate your business than an honest expert skilled in improvement strategies?
            </p>
            <p>
                Customers often lie about the quality of service because they do not want to appear as The Complainer.  This is a bad thing.
                This causes the business to think they are doing well when they really are not.  Businesses need honest feedback to evolve.
                We can conduct this evaluation for you so that you will be empowered by knowing the true state of your business so that you can move forward.
                The evaluation results can take 1 to 2 weeks.  It involves reveiwing the operations, the environment, and the competitors.
                We step in and find The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly so that we can eliminate the last two.
            </p>

            <a name="software-development"></a>
            <h1 style="color:#bb640a;">Software Development</h1>
            <ul>
                <li>Web Site Development</li>
                <li>Mobile Application Development</li>
                <li>Desktop Software Development</li>
                <li>Enterprise Software Development</li>
                <li>Ecommerce Web Develoment</li>
                <li>Graph Design</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
                Building software can come in many forms.  We commonly know some of these forms as mobile, desktop, or web applications.
                These applications are often tied to a system or a variety of systems. It can be a very complicated ordeal if it is not approached in the right manner.
                There are so many tools available these days that allow people to throw an application together.
                This is fine, but what normally happens is that later these people need to do more customization.
                Later they realize that they need to scale their solution or make some dramatic changes.
                They usually become overly frustrated because the method they used to slap the application together does not easily allow greater techniques to be implemented.
                The first rule about software development is that your solution will change over time.  It is best to build it in a way that allows changes easily.
                Some solutions have to be totally rewritten because they are in such poor condition that the development team fears looking at it.
                Some products are built so horribly that what should only take 2 days to change ends up taking 2 weeks. See the design pattern known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud">Big Ball of Mud</a>.
            </p>
            <p>
                We can either help your team get on the right track, build pieces of the solution, or all of the solution.
                If your development team is constantly working late or on the weekends, then you are doing something wrong.
                If you are having stressful issues with your sofware development lifecycle, we can show you a better way.
                Having a stress free environment is priceless.  The amount of money you spending hiring us is nothing compared to what
                you will waste on a project that is out of control.
            </p>
            <p>
                Commonly, we use the .NET framework with C# and SQL Server for building solutions. Our leadership also has experience with C++, Java, PHP, MySQL, and Oracle.
                As far as we are concerned, the language and persistence mechanism does not matter. Simply tell us what you need and we can take it from there.
            </p>

            <a name="management-resurrection"></a>
            <h1 style="color:#0a7cb8;">Management Resurrection</h1>
            <ul>
                <li>Project Management Professional (PMP) advice</li>
                <li>Correct erroneous processes</li>
                <li>Establish greater productivity</li>
                <li>Gain effective leadership</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
                This is a term coined by Life Element.  What is Management Resurrection?  Better yet, lets get a show of hands if you
                have ever thought that your management staff is stupid... If you have been working long enough, then you realize how common those thoughts are.
                Management Resurrection is about analyzing the current issues in management operations and determining how to fix them.
                It is a less extensive version of our Buisness Evaluation service.  It is about bringing morale back into your environment.
                It is about listening to the issues that employees constantly face and addressing them head on.
            </p>
            <p>
                This service is not for the weak.  Our recommendations of how to fix your environment may seem dramatic.
                For example, if it is determined that you have an employee that is poisoning the environment with their behavior,
                we would recommend how to handle this employee for your particular situation.  This could ultimately involve separating them from the company.
                Regardless of the recommendations of how to positively enhance your environment, it is up to you to implement them.
            </p>
            <p>
                Management teams often become set in their ways without realizing it.  This is natural, but that does not mean it is ok.
                You need a fresh pair of eyes and an expert in process improvement strategies to evaluate your operations in order to evolve.
                We can help you get there.
            </p>
			  ]]>
      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Custom software developed at NO development cost</title>
      <author>Life Element</author>
      <category>Announcement</category>
      <link>http://lifeelement.com/news/custom-software-developed-at-no-development-cost/</link>
      <guid>http://lifeelement.com/news/custom-software-developed-at-no-development-cost/</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[
Life Element, Inc. is interested in building software that is more productive than what is currently available.
We will be contacting businesses of various industries to see what their day-to-day issues are with their current software systems and then determine how we can better serve them.
As you can tell from the title, this is custom software built at no development cost.<br /><br />

So what's the deal? The deal is we need business experts from these companies to help us build an outstanding product that is really going to deliver value to their company.
This would be a product owned by Life Element, Inc.
Their company would only pay a discounted licensing fee to use the software. 
They essentially get custom software for their business at no development cost. The savings are mind blowing.<br /><br />

Only the company or companies that help us build this product will receive the discounted licensing fee.  
The competitors of the same industry that wish to license this product will pay the full price.
This is our way of showing our appreciation for the company or companies that helped us build a more productive solution for their industry.
The offer is new and does not have a set expiration date, yet it surely will not last forever, so you may want to act soon by having someone from your company <a href="http://lifeelement.com/contact-us.aspx">contact us</a>.

You will not find another team offering such a deal.  This is perhaps a once in a lifetime offer.
			  ]]>
      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Facebook</title>
      <author>Life Element</author>
      <category>Announcement</category>
      <link>http://www.facebook.com/pages/Life-Element-Inc/244421982285321/</link>
      <guid>http://www.facebook.com/pages/Life-Element-Inc/244421982285321/</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[
Life Element, Inc. is now on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Life-Element-Inc/244421982285321">Facebook</a>.
			  ]]>
      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
			<title>Delusional Scrum</title>
			<author>Life Element</author>
			<category>Software Development</category>
			<link>http://lifeelement.com/news/delusional-scrum/</link>
			<guid>http://lifeelement.com/news/delusional-scrum/</guid>
			<pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description>
			  <![CDATA[
Ok, you get it. Applying the scrum methodology to software development is supposed to be great, but it still is not working for you.  Your environment is stressful, if not more stressful than it was prior to scrum.  Developing software is complicated enough.  The manner in which your environment goes about building it, however, should not be.<br /><br />

Who's to blame?  The Business Analysts?  The Consultants?  The Developers?  The Designers?  Management?  The ultimate answer will always be "Management" for not taking the time to proactively determine the efficiency of an endeavor.  When implementing a methodology, you may find out that it is more complicated than it "appears" to be worth.  When that happens you need to determine if you are actually applying the methodology as it should be.  If you truly are, then you can either make adjustments or find one that better suits your environment or particular project.<br /><br />

If you are higher than normal management, say Senior Management, then whose fault is it if your managers do not properly communicate problems to you?  For example, you have monthly meetings, yet at some point every meeting is about how far behind the project is... Who's fault is it? Unfortunately, it is your fault.  It is your job to make sure your managers are doing their job well.  That means you need to survey the people that actually do the work.  The people that are actually in the trenches that are trying to provide your business value.  This prevents your managers from lying to you.  What?  You've never experienced a lying manager?  Trust, it happens.<br /><br />

So - back to scrum for producing software...  There still are a great deal of companies that get it wrong because they took a simple scrum lifecycle diagram for face value and ran with it.  And boy did they Haul Ass.  Later - the problems start.  After that first demo, a billion changes are thrown at the team.  A trillion refinements are pouring in after sprints.  After giving your time and mental energy fully building something, the last thing you want to hear is that you need to change a zillion things.  STRESS, STRESS, AND MORE STRESS.  At some point your worker bees get use to the abuse and stop caring.  It has been studied that the average worker will produce 6 hours of work in an 8 hour schedule.  When the poop starts repeatedly hitting the fan, how much work do you think they will start producing?  If you’re thinking definitely less than 6 hours, you are correct.  Now you know one of the reasons why projects fall behind schedule.<br /><br />

How do you implement scrum properly so that you can avoid zillions of changes and keep your teams healthy?  The trick is to perform scrum in a pattern that makes sense for software development.  This same pattern is used for designing cars, but for some reason people try to awkwardly build software differently.  What gets complicated is maintaining the discipline in pulling that off, yet that is what Scrum Masters are for (assuming they actually understand Scrum).  Life Element, Inc. can show you how to get the most out of your scrum practice so that your resources are not being wasted.<br /><br />

If what you need to accomplish in software development is a significant endeavor, scrum can get you to the promise land.  If your environment does not know how to ride the horse, then you will fall off.<br /><br />

<a href="http://lifeelement.com/contact-us.aspx">Contact Us</a>
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