Overview
On episode #194 of the Jukebox Podcast, Nathan Wrigley talks with Devin Walker, Automattic’s new Artistic Director for Jetpack. Devin, co‑founder of GiveWP and creator of WP Rollback, joined Automattic after GiveWP was acquired and chose to lead Jetpack for the scale and opportunity to make broad impact across millions of WordPress sites.
Why Devin joined
Devin weighed returning to startup life against joining Automattic. Rather than building a new risky product, he took the rare chance to lead an established suite used by millions. He wanted access to the levers necessary to make measurable improvements at scale and to work inside a company he respects.
What Jetpack is and the central challenge
Jetpack is a bundle of many capabilities—stats, backups, security, speed tools, social sharing, forms, VideoPress, SEO, and more. Over time, niche third‑party tools have intensified competition, so Jetpack risks being “a jack of all trades, master of none.” Devin’s priority is focus: raise the quality of core experiences rather than trying to beat best‑in‑class solutions in every category.
Focus and prioritization
The plan is to clarify which features to polish, which to rethink, and which rarely used items might be removed. The aim is to meet the needs of the majority (for example, forms that cover common use cases) while acknowledging power users may still rely on specialized plugins.
Organizational changes and collaboration
Automattic is moving from functional silos toward a matrix model where shared architects and designers work across wordpress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce. This cross‑product collaboration should yield smoother integrations and more coherent product experiences. Devin is leading the forms initiative with a dedicated engineering team already shipping improvements.
Jetpack, WooCommerce, and integrations
Jetpack’s cloud services are central to many of its integrated features. While some experiences benefit from connecting through wordpress.com via OAuth, Automattic won’t force connections for every use case. Tighter collaboration across Automattic products is intended to make combined workflows—such as running WooCommerce with Jetpack features—more valuable.
AI ambitions
AI is a major focus. Jetpack already offers basic content assistance—auto‑generated excerpts, featured images, and editor helpers—but Devin describes current features as just the beginning. A substantial engineering effort is expanding AI across content creation, block generation, admin helpers, visitor‑facing tools (conversion tools, presales chat, newsletter prompts), and deeper integration with WordPress capabilities. Devin sees AI as glue that can connect product pieces and let nontechnical site owners create custom blocks or experiences quickly.
Product, UX, and onboarding
Improving onboarding and simplifying the UI are high priorities. Jetpack has duplicated controls, multiple toggle locations, and confusing flows that challenge newcomers. The team will apply Jobs‑to‑Be‑Done thinking, consolidate toggles, clarify navigation, and reduce friction in the connect/authorize flow. Recent connect improvements already increased successful connections, and more small wins are planned.
Marketing and perception
Jetpack once benefited from Automattic’s brand momentum, but the plugin market is crowded and messaging matters. Devin plans to sharpen what Jetpack is and update public content and messaging. He also wants to make more internal knowledge public where appropriate and grow marketing capacity to improve community perception and adoption.
Scale and caution
With roughly 4 million core installs, changes must be cautious. Monthly release cycles and wide user impact mean regressions can cause negative reviews. Devin intends to balance caution to protect existing sites with enough ambition to ship meaningful improvements that uplift satisfaction and ratings.
Community feedback and next steps
Devin plans to solicit broad user feedback and iterate transparently rather than redesign in isolation. Near‑term priorities are improving forms, expanding AI capabilities, refining onboarding and UX, and strengthening marketing. He invites feedback at [email protected], jetpack.com/feedback, via Twitter @innerwebs, or at devin.org.
Summary
Devin Walker’s leadership aims to refocus Jetpack on clear, polished core experiences, reduce confusion, leverage AI to connect features, and improve onboarding and marketing—all while being deliberate because of Jetpack’s scale. Expect visible progress over the coming year as the team ships targeted improvements and tightens integration with Automattic’s broader ecosystem.