How Leadership Work Actually Flows

A simple system map for tech leads and engineering managers.

Leadership work doesn’t flow the way most advice assumes.

As you move into senior and lead roles, your work stops being linear.
It becomes a system of inputs, interpretation, decisions, and feedback loops.

This short system map shows:

• Where leadership work actually enters your day
• Why decision-making feels exhausting
• How interruptions compound instead of disappearing
• Why focus problems aren’t a personal failure

This is not a productivity hack.
It’s a structural view of leadership work.

If you’ve ever felt busy without clarity, or responsible for everything but in control of very little, this model will likely feel uncomfortably familiar.

What’s Included

• A clean, visual system map of leadership work
• A breakdown of inputs, interpretation, decisions, outputs, and feedback loops
• A clear explanation of why overwhelm emerges without structure

Who This Is For

• Tech leads
• Engineering managers
• Senior developers transitioning into leadership
• Anyone whose role now revolves around decisions instead of tasks

What This Is Not

• Motivation content
• Hustle advice
• A step-by-step framework

This is a lens, not a checklist.

What To Do After Reading

If this model resonates, it usually means you don’t need more discipline.
You need a leadership system that matches how the work actually flows.

I write more about this at mullins.io, and this model connects directly to the Tech Lead Operating System.