Back in Chapter 1, The Software Industry and the Agile Manifesto, we discussed the Agile Mindset and looked at the particular example of a late change being introduced just before a release.

When someone with a fixed mindset runs into this kind of problem, they will likely be grumpy that something was missed; it disconcerts them that not everything was thought of. This isn't how they usually do things and as a result, they're now being pushed out of their comfort zone.

If the problem or the solution has a degree of uncertainty around it, they will seek to reduce the uncertainty as much as possible before applying a fix.

If they can't resolve all of the uncertainty, they will likely seek to set up some form of verbal contract, usually with the caveat that the person who created or presented the problem accepts responsibility for its outcome. In other words, they will seek to attribute the blame so that, if and when things don't go exactly to plan, they are in the clear.

When someone with a growth mindset runs into a problem like this, they will see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Their first instinct will be to accept the problem as their own, regardless of who or what caused it. They won't be interested in playing the blame game; they see it as collective responsibility. If anything, they will likely see the problem as being caused by the system, rather than somebody.

They'll implement changes to fix the problem as robustly and quickly as they can. They'll then perform some root cause analysis, most likely with other team members, to see if they can fix the cause of the problem and prevent it from happening again.