growth mindset Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

BONUS: Why 98% of Innovation Fails Before It Reaches a Single Customer With Lorraine Marchand

Lorraine Marchand has spent three decades helping organizations innovate in environments where failure carries real consequences. In this episode, she shares the frameworks, stories, and hard-won lessons from her time at IBM Watson Health and beyond — starting with the summer her father handed her a stopwatch and a problem to solve at a diner.

The Sugar Cube That Started It All

“At the age of 12, I learned that problem solving was fun. It was really safe to experiment, and it turned out to be lucrative, because we earned some revenue and royalties from our sugar cube.”

Lorraine’s innovation journey began with her father — a serial inventor who challenged his kids to identify and solve real problems. One summer, he took Lorraine and her brother to the Hot Shops Cafeteria in the Baltimore-Washington area with stopwatches, graph paper, and 3-color pens. Their assignment: figure out what was slowing down table turnover. After three days of observation and interviews with waitresses, busboys, and the manager, they discovered that sugar packets were the culprit — granules spilling over the table and floor during cleanup. Their solution, the Sugar Cube, was prototyped, sold to the manager, and eventually adopted across the chain — which later became the Marriott Corporation. The lesson stuck: innovation starts with observing problems close to the core, not chasing abstract ideas in a vacuum.

Inside IBM Watson Health: Customer Co-Creation Over Engineering Brilliance

“We have fallen in love with our solution. And we have not done our true problem-solving dissection and customer research to make sure that we’re solving a problem that a customer wants to pay us to solve.” Continue reading BONUS: Why 98% of Innovation Fails Before It Reaches a Single Customer With Lorraine Marchand

BONUS: Why Delivery Breaks Down in Growing Tech Organizations—Ownership, Guardrails, and the People-First Company With Prashanth Tondapu

What actually slows down tech teams—lack of talent, or lack of ownership? In this episode, Prashanth Tondapu shares lessons from leading through global-scale failures, scaling from a small team to a 100-person company, and discovering why guardrails beat rigid processes when it comes to building teams that own outcomes and execute with discipline.

Diffusion of Accountability: When Everyone Is Responsible, Nobody Is

“Crisis is not the problem. Crisis is the one that uncovers the problem that has always existed.”

Early in his career, Prashanth witnessed a large-scale failure at a major technology company—not because the team lacked talent, but because accountability had become diffused. When too many people are responsible for something, it translates to nobody being responsible. The team was brilliant individually, but there was no clear demarcation of who owned what outcome. On good days, everything worked. But when things went wrong, there was no single person who could no longer delegate accountability to someone else. Prashanth connects this to the concept from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink—while the whole team must feel ownership, each individual needs laser-focused clarity on their specific accountability. As he frames it: outcome can only come with 100% emotional commitment to a particular problem, and when five people share that commitment, each carries only 20%. That’s where breakdowns happen.

The Leadership Design Problem: From Computers to People

“I was a developer who imagined that humans are also going to be as predictable as computers. Until 6 or 7 people, it works well because you can be everywhere. But as soon as we increased above 7, I was not able to be everywhere.” Continue reading BONUS: Why Delivery Breaks Down in Growing Tech Organizations—Ownership, Guardrails, and the People-First Company With Prashanth Tondapu

Hassan Butt: How to Foster Leadership and Independence in Scrum Teams

Hassan defines success for a Scrum Master as creating a team of leaders who support each other and work collaboratively. His goal is to make himself redundant by helping the team become self-sufficient. Hassan emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with team members, understanding their passions, and continually checking in to ensure personal growth. His ultimate measure of success is when team members grow into leadership roles themselves.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Simple, Contextual Retrospectives

Hassan recommends using retrospective formats that suit the team’s current context and culture. He highlights the value of keeping things simple when facilitating retrospectives, especially for teams from diverse backgrounds. Early in his career, he realized that fancy formats did not always work, but simple, straightforward retrospectives often led to the most productive conversations. Hassan reminds us that it’s not about the format but about what the team needs in the moment.

The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends…

🔥 In the ruthless world of fintech, success isn’t just about innovation—it’s about coaching! 🔥

Angela thought she was just there to coach a team. But now, she’s caught in the middle of a corporate espionage drama that could make or break the future of digital banking. Can she help the team regain their mojo and outwit their rivals, or will the competition crush their ambitions? As alliances shift and the pressure builds, one thing becomes clear: this isn’t just about the product—it’s about the people.

🚨 Will Angela’s coaching be enough? Find out in Shift: From Product to People—the gripping story of high-stakes innovation and corporate intrigue.

Buy Now on Amazon

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About Hassan Butt
Hassan builds high-performing teams and unlocks their full potential in his current role as a Scrum Master for a UK FTSE100 Telco. He also serves as an Agile Coach and mentor, supporting others in their professional growth. Hassan is well-known on LinkedIn for sharing valuable content and insights with the Agile community.

You can link with Hassan Butt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nohassagile/

Hassan Butt: Fostering Growth Mindsets in Hierarchy Driven Organizations

In this episode, Hassan talks about one of his early experiences with a team struggling with ingrained hierarchy. Senior team members dominated conversations, creating a culture where only the most authoritative voices were heard. However, new team members with a growth mindset challenged this dynamic, leading to conflict. Hassan highlights the importance of listening to all voices, especially newcomers, and encourages leaders to avoid stifling ideas. “Good ideas can come from anywhere,” he shares, reminding us to foster an environment of openness and collaboration.

Self-reflection Question: How do you create space for all voices to be heard in your team?

Featured Book of the Week: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins

Hassan recommends Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins as a foundational book for Agile practitioners. The book, especially the chapter on “mastering yourself,” helped Hassan overcome impostor syndrome and grow more confident in his role. He often recommends this book to others as it provides valuable insights into personal growth and self-awareness, critical for building effective teams.

The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends…

🔥 In the ruthless world of fintech, success isn’t just about innovation—it’s about coaching! 🔥

🚨 Will Angela’s coaching be enough? Find out in Shift: From Product to People—the gripping story of high-stakes innovation and corporate intrigue.

Buy Now on Amazon

The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends…

You can link with Hassan Butt on LinkedIn.

Esther Schmit: Bridging Communication Gaps Between Agile Teams, The Communication Challenge

In this episode, Esther shares a challenging experience with two teams that struggled due to poor communication and unwillingness to collaborate. She provides tips on facilitating retrospectives and one-on-one conversations to address communication issues and set clear expectations. Listen to learn a method to improve communication in your teams.

Featured Book of the Week: Mister Mindset by Michael Pilarczyk

Esther discusses “Master your Mindset, Live a Meaningful Life: A book about mental health and personal success” by Michael Pilarczyk, a book focused on changing your mindset to improve the quality of life. She explains how understanding and altering one’s mindset can positively influence professional and personal lives, especially for Scrum Masters who facilitate and support teams.

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches – Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!

About Esther Schmit

Esther is a freelance Agile Coach and Scrum Master, leading Agile Pro Center, which provides online Agile Coaching, Training, and Mentoring for Scrum Masters. Esther also hosts the Online Scrum Master Summit.

You can link with Esther Schmit on LinkedIn, and visit her site Agile Gatherings.