Design Leadership - Holding the Shit Umbrella

Bounce

An interview with Thom Rimmer, a global design leader with over a decade of experience building industry-leading products and developing a culture of design as a competitive business advantage. The discussion covered:

- Thom's background, including his transition from working at agencies to the world of SaaS.

- His experience at Huddle, a sports tech company, where he worked on globally distributed product teams, managed designers, and helped bring products to coaches and athletes worldwide.

- The challenges of working on a hardware product (a camera) at Huddle, including building a team, overcoming technical hurdles, and convincing stakeholders of the opportunity.

- Thom's decision to leave Huddle at the peak of its success and join Intercom, a B2B customer support SaaS company, to seek new challenges and growth opportunities.

- Insights into building trust and relationships with teams, handling failures and maintaining motivation, and being a leader who protects their team while giving them credit for successes.

Key Moments

(1:11) - Guest Introduction

(2:46) - Globally Distributed Teams at Huddle

(12:21) - Designer Relationships with Product Managers

(18:11) - Leaving Huddle and Joining Intercom

(20:44) - The importance of knowing how to sell your work

(41:00) - If you're not failing then you're not trying hard enough

(47:42) - Advice for Product Managers