The Product Career: From Backlog Manager to Chief Product Officer

Learn how to grow with unspoken tactics that work in reality, not fantasy

What does it take to become a C-Level person?

That’s the question I get at almost all conferences I attend. Most of us naturally want to grow, feel valued, and become more successful. All of that is great. Yet, it shouldn’t be the goal, but the consequence.

I will share my story with you, open, vulnerable, and sometimes embarrassing. We're part of the same club if you ever felt like a glorified ticket pusher. I used to be the god of Jira and the best user story writer until I learned I was a horrible product manager.

You can expect lessons, but you better not expect a secret recipe. I don’t have that. I have a story coming from a low-middle-class family from Brazil and reaching global success through a series of random events, risk-taking, and continuous preparation.

Keep reading if you believe you can do better, no matter who you are.

Stop reading if you want a shortcut to success. I don’t have that.

TL;DR: From Rockstar Jira Backlog Manager to Respected C-Level

• Most product careers are messy. Mine started without a plan, with lots of risk and relentless curiosity. Stepping into the unknown is what unlocks true growth.

• You can get out of the backlog management trap if you dare to be different.

• Growth came when I stopped chasing promotions, started chasing outcomes, and shared my journey publicly.

• Writing and sharing unfiltered lessons landed speaking gigs, C-level offers, and global impact.

• No shortcuts. You’ll see the mindset shifts and hard truths I wish someone had told me earlier.

Let’s start with the mindset and how that can open unexpected doors for you.

I have a two-minute quiz to help you understand your career level and learn how to grow. Take the quiz, and you’ll receive the product leadership checklist for free.

What You Need to Grow Isn’t a Better Plan

I never planned to be a C-Level person. I never wanted to be a CEO because I thought it would be political, which I’m not up for. My journey has been simple. I did more of whatever sparked my interest and dropped everything that drained my soul.

Do what’s fun to you.

The key traits you need to grow are:

• Relentless: You will taste failures, and they’ll hurt you. The more ruthless you are, the farther you can go. Keep moving forward, no matter how hard the setback is.

• Curiosity: Whatever you know now may become obsolete. Dare to try different things even when you think you’re the best at something.

• Self-development: Keep working on yourself. Read continuously, attend conferences, listen to talks, and take every chance as a learning opportunity. This mindset will enable you to outgrow yourself, and opportunities will not hide from you.

• Action: It’s all about trying things out despite lacking knowledge. Don’t waste energy theorizing about what you could do. Use what you know to take action now and step into the unknown. This attitude will supercharge your learning speed.

Now, let me share with you something I’ve never shared before.

The Annoying Kid with Supporting Parents

Whenever I got new electronic presents, I wanted to open them and understand what was inside. Obviously, I didn’t understand, and yet I never stopped doing that. When I got my first computer, I couldn’t wait until my dad went to work so I could do my thing.

As my dad left, I opened the computer and removed all the components I could. I stared at them for hours, wondering how these weird things enabled me to play Doom. I couldn’t get an answer, but I was fascinated. Of course, I couldn’t put it together again.

When my dad came home from work, he looked at me and asked, “What do you tell me about it?” I started sweating because I knew I was in trouble—or so I thought.

I couldn’t answer, but eventually I said, “It’s unbelievable how these components make magic, but now I don’t know how to put them back.”

Then, he asked, “What should we do now?” I suggested we get help. And so we went to the store, and he told the guy who sold us the computer, “I think we have an engineer at home. Please, help him assemble it.”

My dad never blocked my curiosity. He fostered it even when I caused trouble. Even today, both my parents ask me, “Which new things are you trying out?”

My childhood helped me develop a mindset where fear doesn’t block curiosity. Everything that followed reflects on my curiosity, shouting louder than my fear.

💡Lesson: Hunger creates knowledge, lack of it traps you in a comfort zone.

Becoming a Developer Without Knowing How to Code

A friend of mine from high school started working at a computer store. He told me about creating websites, which fascinated me. I immediately wanted to join him and asked how to get started. He told me that I’d need to know HTML, PHP, and MySQL so he could introduce me to his boss.

Waiting isn’t something I’m good at. Taking risks is often my thing.

I told my friend to make introductions. Even though he was resistant, he opened that door. When I got to talk to the store owner, he asked me to tell him what I knew about web development. And I went straight to the point, “Nothing at all, just that I want to be great at it. My offer is simple. Give me 3 months to show you how fast I learn. I will work for free, and if I don’t convince you after this time, I will walk away.”

The store owner was skeptical but said, “You’re audacious, I like that. Let’s do the following. You come here tomorrow and start with us. But you have to learn by yourself, I’m not going to babysit you.”

I went all in.

Immediately, I bought a book about HTML from the Headfirst series and another about databases. I tried everything I could about it. I did all I could to become a software engineer.

Eventually, I created several websites and portals for local businesses. Everything was done manually as my hometown barely had an internet connection.

Looking back, I’m grateful for my friend who risked his credibility and the store owner who bet on me.

People will help you when they feel your drive is genuine. A hungry person will outperform an experienced person lacking motivation.

💡 Lesson: Don’t fear asking what you want. But you should fear not doing that.

The Offer I Could See Coming

I worked in software development for about six years. I went from coding websites to public service, side gigs, and factory automation. I learned that the programming language was less important than business understanding. It didn’t matter if we worked with PHP, Java, .NET, or something else; it mattered if we knew what we were optimizing for.

Now comes a funny thing. I dreamed about being a software architect and working for one of the big tech companies. Yet, I confess that I was a mediocre developer at best.

Developing my English skills was my ambition, but I lacked money. Traveling abroad wasn’t an option, so I took an immersion course, which would transform my life forever.

The immersion took place in the countryside of a small town in the middle of nowhere. Funny enough, people from different corners of Brazil were there, though we had no idea what anyone did because the goal was to improve English.

At the end of the immersion, everyone had to present something. I presented an application I was working on, but focused on the big picture to avoid boring anyone with tech details. After the presentation, the surprise came.

A guy called Leandro Silveira came to me and said,

“I have an offer for you. I want you to work with me.”

As a developer, I asked, “Cool. Which programming language do you use?” He said, “I don’t know. I want you to be a product manager because I don’t get anything from those tech people. As the CEO, I must ensure they are working on what matters for the business.”

Only at that moment did I realize I was talking to a CEO for the first time.

I couldn’t understand exactly what he wanted from me, and I was embarrassed because I didn’t know what a product manager was, so I told him, “The only problem is that I’m no product manager and I don’t know what it entails.”

Then, he said something I would never forget, “It’s all about communication. You make complex things simple to understand. I want you to do more of that.”

My childhood mindset kicked in.

I was afraid of saying yes to the unknown, but my curiosity to experiment with being a product manager was bigger than my fear of failure. I said yes.

A few months later, I moved from Paraisopolis - MG (20K people) to São Paulo (20M people). A transformation that would unlock my potential.

💡Lesson: Whenever you’re afraid and excited simultaneously, you should go for it.

The Tough Realization “I’m a Backlog Manager”

In 2012, I became a “Product Manager.” At least I thought so.

I first described my position as the bridge between business and tech, which was precisely what I did. I understood what business people wanted and wrote specs, handing them to software engineers.

We delivered many features without the faintest idea of how they created value.

After I joined, Velocity increased by 37%. Eventually, I got a promotion because I accelerated delivery. As embarrassing as it can be, I felt proud, so I did more tricks to keep pushing features faster.

I didn’t know I trapped the team in a feature factory.

The backlog was shining with clarity. Everyone knew what to do, but no one knew what to achieve. Years in, I could precisely tell you what we created, and I had no idea what we achieved. Nobody cared.

International companies like Booking.com approached me, and I felt great about it. We had a few interviews, and I failed miserably regarding a tech product management talk.

I couldn’t answer half of the questions. Then, I asked the hiring manager, “I know I don’t fit, but help me understand what I’m missing so I can work on it.”

Another moment that transformed my life was when the hiring manager said,

“You’re solid on delivery practices but lack experimentation abilities. You seem to go all-in on features without knowing how they deliver value, and you don’t measure results beyond output.”

💡Lesson: Be humble enough to accept that you may not be as good as you imagine.

Embracing the Unknown

It hurt me to realize I was no product manager at all. At best, I was a backlog manager. Yet, I didn’t want to remain trapped. I wanted to grow.

I tried a few changes where I was, but I hit the wall several times as the organization got acquired by a bigger conglomerate. They deployed SAFe (the undercover waterfall agent). Everything got unnecessarily complicated, and I couldn’t get any support to run experiments and measure outcomes.

I knew I had to quit, but I didn’t have a place to go.

At that time, I started an MBA parallel to my work to level up my business acumen. I fell in love with the startup world and wanted to be part of it. As recruiters approached me, I shared that I’d consider only startups.

Failure tastes bitter, but it’s necessary.

Startup founders bluntly rejected me because I had no related experience, and they all needed speed. How could I solve this deadlock?

I came back to my first dev job. During interviews, I started acknowledging my startup competence but sharing that I was eager to do whatever it took to make it work. As I was young, and experience was my objective, I was offered a 20% pay cut.

It only takes one yes to get it rolling.

A startup called Instacarro made an offer to work with them. In 8 months, I learned more than 4 years in the corporate world. It was an MBA alone that provided the experience, which shaped my experimentation mindset.

Eventually, I moved to other startups and left Brazil for Germany.

All of that happened because I wanted to become a better version of myself. I wanted to grow in the product world, and fear wouldn’t hinder me.

💡Lesson: You must do what most people fear to get where most only dream about.

Dare to Share Without Filters

How often do you share your nuggets of knowledge?

I bet you have many things worth gold.

The more you express them, the more opportunities you will receive. It will get even better if you dare to share your thoughts without filters. Authenticity beats everything.

After seven years of playing the product game, from wannabe developer to senior product manager, I realized that many teams face similar challenges. These include bloated backlogs, nonsense roadmaps, meetings that result in meetings, inattention to results, and more. That happens because product is a journey that takes a while to grow.

Some close friends told me I had something worth sharing and should get it out. I told them that was BS because I worked only for ordinary companies and hadn’t done anything fancy.

They pushed back and said that most people work for ordinary companies, and you can help them with their real challenges. They convinced me.

I started blogging on Medium, and in three years, I went from zero to 90K followers. I wrote about my challenges, shortcomings, mistakes, and lessons. My writing resonated with millions of people worldwide, and it improved my thinking and communication.

The more you write, the better you become at communication.

If you care about something, it is worth sharing. Get it out there, and you’ll be surprised by unforeseen opportunities.

💡Lesson: You have lessons that people would love to learn from.

Unexpected Events Happen When You’re Different

Writing is the one thing I can put my finger on and say it unlocked my growth. Undoubtedly, many things happened because someone read some of my blogs, and it spoke to their hearts.

Here’s a summary after 5 years of writing:

• 100+ Keynotes given in 20+ countries

• 200+ Podcasts attendance

• 20K+ students got my video courses

• 50+ companies consulted worldwide

• 3 C-level gigs

None of the above would have happened if I had suppressed my thoughts.

A clear story for you.

I became the CPO of omoqo because their CTO read the Agile Product Manifesto I co-authored.

He was inspired by it, invited me to talk with his team, and then introduced me to the shareholders, who made an offer to their CPO.

Eventually, I got to the CEO level at the same company. And that only happened because someone read something from me.

Writing is intentional; that’s what I can control. Every week, I write to help people. Not all my stories resonate with hundreds of thousands. Many are ignored, and that doesn’t matter. I keep doing it. Opportunities will appear.

💡Lesson: People won’t hear about you if you don’t share what makes you different.

A final question for you:

What’s holding you back from getting your unfiltered thoughts out?

Shall We Reshape the Product World Together?

Join me to break free from outdated product management!

Let’s foster the 100x PM movement! No more feature factory.

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