Joe Duncko's Blog

# Working with Joe

About Me

Hi, I’m Joe Duncko!

My professional experience mostly consists of building frontends for MVPs for startups.

I recently moved from Youngstown, Ohio to Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood.

My day job is coordinating BlastPoint’s Platform Team’s workload, process, and growth as their Director of Platform Engineering. My responsibilities span product, people, and planning—ensuring we’re building high-quality software at the right pace.

On the side I work with Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) clients to scope and build their MVPs, working with a team of talented student software developers via Dev Youngstown, my consulting arm.

What Drives Me?

I love solving problems and keeping things moving. My goal is to make sure we’re building the right thing at the right time at the right velocity—keeping quality high and breakage low.

Core Values & Work Philosophy

My guiding philosophy is:

  • Do Everything in Iterations: Nothing is perfect the first time. Small, steady improvements force real-world validation early and keep feedback loops tight.
  • Do the Easy Thing Before the Hard Thing: The simplest “good enough” solution often delivers immediate value. Perfection is usually unnecessary.
  • Choose Automation Over Processes: Processes get forgotten; automation makes things seamless.
  • If You Can’t Automate, Make It Predictable: Establish cadences and reminders to keep workflows consistent.
  • Transparency: No private work, no private code. Open collaboration builds trust and accountability.
  • Document Everything: Future-you (and your teammates) will thank you.

My Work Style

How My Days Are Structured

  • Meetings dominate my week. As such, my scheduled focus time is important to me.
  • I thrive in fast-paced, async environments. I prefer atomic task structures where I’m empowered to solve problems and improve workflows along the way.
  • I delegate as much as possible, especially vague and unstructured work. Structured work on my plate tends to get blocked or delayed because of my meeting load. Please let me know if work I’ve delegated needs clearer requirements, and we can figure it out together.

My Problem-Solving Approach

  1. Quickly form an initial solution based on my existing mental models.
  2. Compare it with known best practices or existing mechanisms.
  3. Iterate until we find the right balance of effort vs impact.

Communication & Meetings

How to Reach Me

  • Preferred Mode: Slack (async). I typically see messages within 5 minutes. If I don’t respond, it’s likely because your message requires a deeper response and has been kicked to my Slack reminders.
  • Please don’t send just “Hi”—get straight to the point (No Hello).
  • Need a real-time conversation? DM me for permission before starting a Slack Huddle.
  • Video Meetings? I generally keep my camera off and do light tasks (e.g., walking, tidying up) to stay engaged. If you prefer I turn my camera on, just ask!

Response Times

  • Slack: Typically within minutes; longer if the response requires thought.
  • Escalation: DM me asking for a Slack Huddle ASAP—I will drop almost anything unless I’m in another high-priority meeting. Use sparingly.
  • Use the “Blocked” word carefully. If you tell me you’re blocked, I will immediately prioritize getting you unstuck. Don’t abuse this!

1:1s with Me

1:1s have three priorities:

  1. Making sure you’re okay (personally and professionally).
  2. Making sure I’m okay (giving and getting feedback).
  3. Making sure we’re on the same page (updates, blockers, priorities).

To get the most out of 1:1s, come prepared to share:

  • What you’ve finished since we last met
  • What you’re working on now
  • When you think you’ll be done
  • Any blockers or challenges
  • Any feedback (for me or the team)

A Note on My Health

I have Crohn’s disease, which occasionally means I may need to step away briefly during meetings or be a few minutes late, especially if I have back-to-back calls. If we’re meeting in person, you may notice me stepping out more frequently, particularly in the mornings and early afternoons—please continue without me, and I’ll catch up as needed.

Feedback & Growth

How I Give and Receive Feedback

  • I prefer giving feedback in real-time during 1:1s but will provide written feedback when necessary.
  • I don’t receive enough feedback myself to know what method works best for me—so if you have feedback for me, just tell me in whatever way feels natural.
  • If your feedback suggests a significant change to my workflow, I may ask follow-up questions to understand the impact before implementing it.

Supporting Your Growth

  • I encourage networking and participation in local tech communities. Conferences, meetups, and hackathons are all valuable growth opportunities.
    • I myself help organize Code Youngstown, a social group for software engineers in Youngstown, Ohio.
  • If you need guidance on career growth, let’s discuss it! I enjoy helping people level up their skills and take on new challenges.

Collaboration & Expectations

What I Expect From a Great Collaborator

  • Ownership: Care about your work all the way to customer impact.
  • Continuous Improvement: Don’t just complete tasks—think about how to improve workflows for the next iteration.
  • Fearless Problem-Solving: Be willing to dig into a problem, propose solutions, and throw away work if necessary.

What Frustrates Me

  • Fear of change: I get frustrated when unnecessary conservatism prevents us from using better tools or improving systems.
  • Lack of ownership: If people don’t take initiative or feel accountable for their work, things break down.
  • Boredom & Underutilization: If I’m not using my skills effectively, I get restless.

Decision-Making

  • Decisions should be made by those closest to the problem.
  • Larger impacts require broader input, but I trust people to own their areas of expertise.

Fun & Personality

Quirky Work Habits

  • I use the Colemak keyboard layout. No, I don’t recommend it.
  • I drink tea, not coffee.

Favorite Non-Work Topics

  • Startups, hackathons, frontend development: I have a failed startup under my belt, started my alma mater’s hackathon, and have written a lot of React.
  • Anime & manga: I’ve watched/read a lot! My favorite anime is Eureka Seven.
  • Live music: I post clips of concerts I go to on Instagram. I frequent The Mr. Roboto Project, a nonprofit concert venue in Pittsburgh.

Final Thoughts

If you take one thing from this guide, it’s this: I want you to be successful and happy in your work. Let’s collaborate, iterate, and build cool stuff together!