Nack to the Future: I’m returning to Adobe!

“Well everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.
But maybe everything that dies, someday comes back…“

I’m thrilled to say that seven years after heading out to “Teach Google Photoshop,” I’m returning to where my PM journey started in the year 2000. As the old saying goes, “You can take the boy out of Adobe, but…” As I said in 2019:

After 5+ years at Google, I still catch myself starting out, “Hi, I’m John from Adobe…” 😌

— John Nack (@jnack) May 27, 2019

…and as I’d type my brain would autocomplete “[Google] Photos” to “Photoshop.” It’s funny, too: my Google orientation took place in Adobe’s former HQ in Mountain View, where the Photoshop vets at Google say they’d written Photoshop for Unix. I didn’t need a DeLorean to feel a time warp—but Google brought one to the party anyway:

It was quite the interesting journey (partially summarized here), and as you’d expect, I have a lot of thoughts on the subject. I hope to share those soon—but today is all about looking forward.

Sooo… what will I be doing? I can’t say much yet as 1) I don’t want to speak out of turn, and 2) I won’t officially start for two weeks (“Twooo weeeeks…!!”)

I can say, though, that I’ve been really excited by what I’ve seen from Adobe in the last couple of years (see innumerable previous posts), especially around Neural Filters, and I love that they’re exploring what one might call “AI-first creation tools.”

Now, if you ask me precisely what that means, I’ll yell “No one knows what it means—but it’s provocative! Gets the people GOIN’!!” 🙃 But seriously, any of us had it all figured out, it’d be boring and they wouldn’t need me. I’m what Larry Page might call “uncomfortably excited” to commit to the journey—to messing around & finding out. I can’t wait to team up with friends new & old—including a couple of amazing researchers who’ve also returned from tours at Google.

So, please watch this space for more details. In the meantime I’m due to fly to Chicago to start an epic road trip down Route 66 with my son, driving my dad’s ancient Miata all the way to California. Stay tuned for what’ll be an almost punitive number of pics & vids. 😌

And with that—let the new adventures begin!

50 thoughts on “Nack to the Future: I’m returning to Adobe!”

Yesssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As I said before, Adobe isn’t Adobe without John Nack!

Excellent news!

Congrats John!!! I’m looking forward to whatever you will be involved with at Adobe. -john

Nack attack!

can’t wait to see what’s in store! 🙂

Fantastic! There was a John Nack sized hole that needed to be filled!

Route 66 goes right through South Pasadena CA if you want to swing by. Outdoor seating, and masks with the best of root beers or (regular) beers. Let me know!

Woohoo! Welcome back John!

It’ll be great to have you back at Adobe! Best wishes on this journey home (and have a safe road trip. It sounds like a blast).

Brilliant.

Welcome back, John

Who says you can’t go back. Good luck and hope to chat soon.

Well this will make grabbing lunch together a whole lot easier (when we are back in the office). Welcome to the Boomerang Club!

Great news!

That’s terrific news John! Can’t wait to hear what you’ll be doing at Adobe this time around. Tiny Elvis lives!

Duuuuude! Welcome back!!

Most excellent. Welcome back!

Congrats. I really looking forward to seeing where this takes you.

Most excellent. Welcome back!

THIS is what I call great news!

That is awesome news, congrats John and I look forward to hearing about what amazing new tech you are involved in.

Congratulations John! This is good news for us photographers, for your family, and for Adobe. Enjoy the drive “ancient Miata”…ha!…my first car was a ‘57 VW and that’s just old . I suspect the MicroNaxx aren’t quite micro anymore…have fun with your son and stay safe and well.