Session Recap: When Projects Stall

When projects stall long before anyone notices

Nat opened with a question that most design leaders know a little too well. Why do projects slow down silently, and why do leaders only realise it once everything feels stuck.

Sara, CEO of Active Voice, pulled this into the world of confidence and trust. Not confidence as a performance, but as a leadership practice. Designers often work in imperfect environments where priorities shift and cross functional partners see risk through very different lenses. Building momentum in these conditions comes down to understanding power, reading signals early, and making sense of what is unsaid in the room.

Yaprak, head of design at GoodNotes, took the topic from another angle. For her, clarity is the foundation. Culture sets the rules for how people show up. And conflict, when ignored, becomes the quiet force that slows everything down. Her examples from Spotify and her coaching work showed how simple misalignment can compound over time if leaders do not name it.

Leading through uncertainty

If you work in product in 2025, you know what uncertainty feels like. Constant restructurings, shifting OKRs, goals that change just as the team starts to get traction. Sara spoke to this directly. Leaders who wait for perfect clarity risk never making a move at all. Decisiveness matters, even when the path is messy.

Yaprak echoed this but tied it to the business. Design leaders who cut through noise focus on solving the core problem. Not the loudest problem. Not the one any executive brings into the room that week. But the one that moves the product forward.

The pair delivered a message that resonated with many attendees who are guiding teams through European tech environments that have become more cautious, more reactive, and more operationally stretched.

Systems, incentives, and the hidden architecture of organisations

One of the strongest moments came when Nat asked Yaprak to clarify what she means by systems. She described them as the unseen architecture that determines how teams behave. How decisions are made, how goals are set, how conflict is resolved. And most importantly, which incentives guide people when trade offs get hard.

If strategy, incentives, and execution do not match, misalignment is guaranteed. Teams feel slow. Leaders feel frustrated. Projects drift without anyone doing anything technically wrong.

It was the kind of explanation many design leaders wish they had years ago.

Both Sara and Yaprak pushed the idea that relationship building is not soft work. It is design work. It requires research, listening, and an awareness of power. When something feels off, there is always a signal behind it. Emotional safety is not a luxury. It is the entry point to collaboration.

Sara urged leaders to invest in the connections that make work feel human. Less performative alignment. More genuine conversations. And a real understanding of who has influence and why.

Momentum, signals, and the early signs of trouble

Yaprak illustrated how stakeholder mapping can predict momentum loss long before it becomes visible. Who has interest, who has influence, who feels unheard. Meanwhile Sara pointed out that the earliest signals of a stalled project are subtle. Small drops in engagement. Decisions that no longer stick. Avoidance. Silence that lasts a little too long.

These moments matter because they show leaders where attention is needed before the project hits crisis mode.

Sara and Yaprak reframed conflict as a trust building mechanism. Not something to eliminate but something to work with. They explored a conflict clarity framework built around recognition, neutral naming, co design, and embedding the outcome.

Conflict handled well creates momentum. Conflict avoided prevents it.

Why this matters for design leadership in Europe

Design leaders across Europe are navigating a landscape where product complexity is rising and organisational clarity is shrinking. This session reflected exactly what they need. A place to explore systems, conflict, trust, and the political realities of design leadership without reducing any of it to inspiration posters.

Leadership Ateliers will continue to host these conversations with senior leaders from across the region. If you are looking for design leadership conferences or advanced training events in Europe, the upcoming editions are designed for you. Depth, candour, practical frameworks, and a community of peers who understand what the work really looks like.

You can already sign up to our next session on December 10th with Martyn Reding (Expedia) and Nicola Ryan (Conde Nest)