Top down management that worked based on fear with no vision and bad technology - Lead Product Manager Adobe Employee Review

2.0
Apr 11, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Food is good - Gym is good -Life balance can be good and flexible especially for managers. I have seen people take 2 months off a year

Cons

- 10% of the people do 90% of the work - A lot of people have been there over 20 years and are stuck in their ways. They have no idea what is happening outside of Adobe and are building things with no vision. - Teams are built without being staffed properly. Too many stakeholders get involved which make every extremely slow - People are extremely fake. They are going to be nice to you and then talk behind your back. Alliances are everything. - Management work based on fear. Unless you follow your manager blindly you can't get anywhere. They want change but they don't really want it. - Creativity and ideas are not welcomed unless it is aligned with what leadership wants. - Lots of people are there for a paycheck. Lack of talent - Extremely slow paced environment - The tech stack is surprisingly bad. It is not a tech company, it is a marketing one. - Product managers don't have sprint teams, they are consultants for the most part. - Most PMs don't use their own products and build without a vision or innovation -Growth is impossible as they are already so many managers and people get promoted on time spent on the Company vs impact.

Explore other reviews about Adobe

5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

all good things considered to work here

Cons

often times, it can feel pretty boring

4.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Refreshing focus on employee wellness * Brilliant colleagues * Compelling problems on interesting tools * Good work/life balance culture... generally (see cons) I've been at a few big tech companies and Adobe is one of my favorites. I feel empowered to make impactful changes here, I'm constantly stretching myself in fun ways, and the products we make are incredible. Product and engineering have big dreams, and all the resources we need to realize them.

Cons

* Big time crunch culture around arbitrary goals By far my biggest disappointment has been just how hard product pushes on big projects with arbitrary deadlines and difficult scope. It turns into cutting corners and delivering sub-par experiences even though we absolutely have the talent and capability to make some exceptional things if we just let the dang thing bake a few more months. I'd be more impressed with the tight clip if the goals were reasonable for good business reasons, but as far as I can tell the reason usually boils down to "some high-level manager wanted X and thought Y sounded like a good target date". * Comp growth leaves something to be desired. Raises feel pretty flat, though it's not the worst thing since stock rewards can be pretty good as appropriate for performance. Career progression is pretty good here too - I just find it odd how stale the base pay increases are year to year.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All