Google Tech Talks October 8, 2008 ABSTRACT Ever notice that you seem to spend 80% of your time on 20% of your tasks? Or that 80% of the decisions in a meeting seem to occur in 20% of the meeting time? Welcome to the world of the 80:20 rule. When we design, build and test software, we have to determine where to start and what we should do next. The 80:20 rule helps provide an answer to these questions, while helping to increase our productivity and effectiveness. As well as being an agile principle, it's a common thread in other disciplines, and there's a special variation that applies to software defects. We'll explore the different ways testers and developers are using the 80:20 rule. This rule could be a secret ingredient to help you build software smarter! Speaker: Erik Petersen Erik Petersen has been involved in custom software development since the 1980s, now focusing on testing and quality. He has presented at more than twenty Australian and international conferences, winning several awards. He mixes industry experience with powerful ideas and a passion for quality, and has influenced the work habits of hundreds of testers and developers across the world. Erik's been heavily involved in the Exploratory Testing community since before he even knew what it was called, proposing the idea of paired ET independently of Kaner and Bach in 2001. He is pushing forward with research on ET and other agile methods. He has reviewed many agile and testing books, and accidentally named the Master Test Report In the IEEE 829 Test Documentation 2008 standard. Check out Erik's link site at www.testingspot.net