After reading James Fairbarns’s article in the August/October 2007 edition of Litigation Support TODAY, where he discusses pairing beer styles with phases of the litigation pipeline, I decided to continue the discussion of craft beer in kCura’s corporate blog. At kCura we like to say our strength is our ability to build great software. I like to think we also know something about building (or perhaps more appropriately, brewing) good beer. As kCura’s resident homebrewer, I am lucky that the making of a good beer is far less complex than developing great software. In both pursuits, however, the end product demonstrates strength through simplicity. The goal, of course, is a positive end user experience. Okay, so in that respect, perhaps the homebrewer has an advantage over the software developer.

This holiday season will bring the release of Relativity 3.4, which includes enhanced searching capabilities and foreign language indexing; amongst other notable improvements. In addition to version 3.4 of Relativity, kCura will also be releasing version 1.0 of kBrew: Holiday Ale 2007. kBrew 1.0 is an English brown ale brewed with gingerbread spices. Fall has always been my favorite season in the Midwest for reasons ranging from idyllic weather to football to stuffing and gravy. For the homebrewer and beer advocate Fall presents the most rewarding time of the year for robust and flavorful seasonal ales. A good seasonal should make use of quality ingredients and traditions that define and pair well with the season. Our spiced brown ale will attempt to do just that with a caramel and malty profile leading with a bouquet of gingerbread. It will pair well with a gingerbread dessert, any beef dish, game, a hearty stew, or just plain by itself.

This past Saturday was dedicated to the brewing of kBrew version 1.0. We are targeting an early December release. A special mention to Randy Mosher who’s book Radical Brewing gave the idea for a gingerbread beer.

Keep an eye out for Relativity 3.4, as well as kBrew 1.0 (…and NO, kCura does not sell beer. I brew it for enjoyment only!)

For Geeks Only

Beer Style: Spiced Brown Ale

Grain Bill: 4lb UK Pale; 1lb 80L Crystal; 1lb Victory; 1lb Vienna; 1/2lb 30L UK Crystal; Gingerbread Spices

Hops: Fuggles

OG: 1.040

Yeast: British Ale

kBrew - Collaborative Drinking

I joined the kCura team in July of this year to help guide and solidify the growing training needs of the company.  With a Six Sigma and higher education background, I hope to streamline how educational materials are prepared, presented, and evaluated.   Since July, we have refurbished kCura’s entire educational library to enhance each user’s experience with our system. 

Relativity is dynamic because we develop, test, and implement new functionality on a continuous basis.  Each new function brings new customer training needs, and we strive for both a broad conceptual understanding, and a customized approach.  If a user requests topic clarification, we will churn out reference guides or cheat sheets addressing their specific concerns.  If further aid is needed, we’ll schedule a personalized training session.  We do this because while sometimes a classroom approach with a large participant pool is suitable, certain occasions call for one-on-one training.  We openly welcome these instances to help our clients feel more comfortable with our product. 

In the end, we want to ensure that everyone has an exceptional experience working with us.  While working in conjunction with the support team, we in the training department hope to holistically educate you on kCura and Relativity.