Welcome to Adventure Tactician. I’m Jeff Golenski and I’ll be your tour guide on your journey through this small green patch of the internet.
I’m currently a principal product designer and product manager at Automattic ↗, where I’ve been helping shape the internet since 2014. With over 20 years in the game, I’ve spent most of my career building tools and experiences that empower people — especially within the open-source WordPress ecosystem, which I’ve been deeply involved with for 15+ years.
I wasn’t raised in a family that jet-setted around the globe. Our “big trip” each year was a long weekend in a tent at the local campground, and honestly, those early adventures shaped more of me than I realized at the time.
When we could finally afford an internet connection during my awkward middle school era, it became my first passport. I wandered through digital worlds, discovering cultures, landscapes, and ideas that felt impossibly far from my small-town life.
That spark grew into a lifelong hunger to see the real thing. Now, I travel to the places that once lived only in pixelated photos online, capturing their mood with my camera, video clips, and storytelling. I take my gear seriously, too. It gets dragged through mud, storms, and whatever else the trail conjures before earning a review.
This site is the culmination of that journey: part adventure journal, part visual archive, part gear truth-teller, and entirely driven by the curiosity that started it all.
Thanks for being here.
Find me elsewhere
I’m also a product manager & designer by trade, photographer, and vivarium extraordinaire. Have a gander.
I dabble in fine art, travel, and wilderness photography. But you already know that. I’m usually out taking photos while everyone is asleep. Come grab a print or two!
You know those exotic colorful frogs from the rainforest? I raise them, along with all sorts of tropical fish and plants. Some say my office is the largest tropical rainforest in the United States.