Defect Sampling (clustering) is one of the more interesting principles of testing. The general idea is that, if on a limited testing schedule, when a bug is found it is suggested that you focus more of your testing in that area as there is now the potential of more bugs to cluster around there. This will come at the sacrifice of spending time on other parts of the system. This idea falls under the Pareto Principle which basically states that 80% of the problems can be found in about a 20% section of the software under test.
If you release on an iterative release schedule, say you deploy to production once a week, time spent on regression needs to be planned almost on the fly. By looking at the all the new tickets in the sprint you can get a sense of the areas that need more focus. If a bug is found it will make sense to focus more in and around that section of the software.
These ideas are also connected to the Error Guessing testing technique which can be used by experienced software testers who have lots of knowledge about the product. Experience and knowledge lead to an intuitive testing approach which can be rare but extremely useful in a project with quick testing schedules. Companies that appreciate the quality of their product often have an experienced testing team that knows where their focus needs to be at any given time.
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