Commenting on a post by Raphael Farinazzo about the main job of Product: discovering what is worth building.
“Product’s main job has always been to use the resources at hand to discover what is worth building.” — to me, Raphael Farinazzo hit the nail on the head here.
What’s really happening:
- A bunch of people discovering they’re neither “product” nor “builder” people, but rather good at running projects and dealing with people;
- A lot of PMs with side projects — which is good for them and for the companies they work for, since they’re raising the bar for the field;
- People tired of doing “what needs to be done” and diving headfirst into building (me).
I’ve always felt like a “duck” (a jack of all trades) in the product field. When I became a principal, that became even clearer to me. Want to know about discovery/product management? I’d tell people to look for Priscila Rodrigues, because she knew much more than I did. Want to know about AI? I’d tell them to talk to Rodrigo Subirá and Adrianno Esnarriaga, who know more than I do. Want to know about building with low-code? I’d tell them to talk to P. Mity Hoshino, who knows more than I do. On leadership, I’d tell them to look for Daniele Gemignani, who helped me a lot when I was a leader.
To all of you, I’m grateful for all the help along the way!
Impostor syndrome? Maybe a little (I don’t think so). Still, I really think the product discipline is changing, and I see that some people are better prepared than others — like the list above.
My advice? Go build and feel the “pain” of managing a product as a whole — product, data, tech, design and ops.
Thanks for the text, Farina. :)
Originally written in Portuguese and published on LinkedIn on March 4, 2026. I translated it into English with the help of AI (Claude): it let me bring my LinkedIn posts to people who don’t read Portuguese without rewriting each one from scratch. I reviewed the translation to keep my original meaning and tone.