Leadership Ateliers 2026 / Masterclass
From Fragmented Systems to Strategic Alignment
It doesn’t take a genius to spot flawed experiences, but getting to improve them has far less to do with design execution than with the right timing, internal politics and the broader business ecosystem a product is only part of. Mandates and accountability are seldom clear, while emerging design orgs often lack lenses or authority to act upon. This masterclass shows how design leaders and small design teams can use their craft to build momentum, lead laterally and create significant design-led change be it redesign, new information architecture, or service launch, before a project is even funded.
Using a real example from a logistics platform of the leading European online retailer, we’ll unpack how a design and product partnership can turn fragmented insights and systems into a plausible future direction. You’ll learn how artifacts like critical journeys, competitive benchmarks, sacrificial concepts can be used not as deliverables, but as instruments for strategic alignment.
Who is it for?
For small design teams navigating organizational complexity or shipping complex products or platforms (senior ICs, aspiring, emerging and hands-on design leaders)
Top 3 Outcomes
- #1Learn how to identify and act on a strategic initiative without formal ownership or funding
- #2Craft compelling vision and strategy, and articulate it in form of a proposal that secures commitment and brings alignment.
- #3Learn how to actually move forward with the strategy and convert the vision into prioritized bets and owners
Facilitating this session:
Nina Jurcic
Principal Product Designer · Zalando
Nina is a hands-on design leader with over a decade of experience building apps, brands, complex platforms, design systems, and high-performing teams. As a Principal Designer at ZEOS, she helps shape the strategy and experience vision of Zalando's very own fashion logistics platform for multichannel fulfillment.
Nina is passionate about helping organizations bridge the gap between business strategy and meaningful customer outcomes. She does so by bringing people together and creating the conditions for design and product teams to thrive. Through her work, advisory roles, and community engagements, Nina firmly advocates for design as a leadership discipline and a catalyst for collaboration and innovation.