◻️ Gray Area Shades.
Hello. Yeah, so we love gray-area hacks—that’s what makes the Hackquire™ book. As you may have read, our vision is to democratize work wisdom by making gray-area hacks accessible to all. We do this in a unique way by characterizing these hacks as little monsters called Hackquees that bring colour to the gray-areas!
◻️ Below is a quick index of this blog notes post. We mention gray-area 30 times in this post, so it should be good.
The Opportunity
The Solution
The Impact
◻️ 1/3. The Opportunity:
The opportunity was to delve deeper into the meaning of gray-areas—what they mean to us and why we see them as such a vital part of the working world for everyone. Additionally, it was a chance to explain the parameters of gray-area and how they are even designed to help further using our method.
◻️ 2/3. The Solution:
We have listed the key tenets of what defines a gray-area, along with all their meanings, as well as further information on our method of capturing gray-area hacks. Additionally, we explain how our global network helps us gather these insights, how we build the book, and how we test them.
◻️ 3/3. The Impact:
The impact has been that we have now shared more about the gray-area world, given you deeper insights into it, and hopefully sparked one, two, or even three “huh” moments that are quite interesting. This blog post also led us to update the logo. Oh, and we also went fierce into the vision for this book, too.
⬜️ Content Index:
Below are the things we’ll go through, in the order we’ll cover them. Hope this helps as you read through. The reason we invented the word Hackquire™ was to merge two powerful worlds—acquire and hack—into a new word and a new way of working.
Gray Area Begins.
Gray Area Bonuses.
Gray Area Bowsers.
Gray Area Minds.
Gray Area Method.
Gray Area Network.
Gray Area Wisdom.
Gray Area Zeitgest.
⬜️ 1/8. Gray Area Begins:
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) records the first known use of the term “gray-area” (or “gray-area” in British English) in 1935. This phrase is commonly used to describe situations that are not openly discussed. That for us is key as we have found that those who use gray-area hacks dont always share share them.
🟥 2/8. Gray Area Bonuses:
Gray-area hacks at work function like hidden bonus points in a video game—whether on a cellphone, cloud, console, PC, or Mac. Just like cheat codes, they aren’t openly shared with you, but people use them all the time. They exist, glowing in the shadows like a luminous fruit, waiting to be collected and discovered.
🟪 3/8. Gray Area Bowsers:
Gray-area hacks also highlight the negative Bowsers at work. We call them Bowsers because they’re the less legit players in the working world—but also the not-so-cool things that mess with your output. It’s a cross-generational reference, and yeah, it fits. It’s also part of the Hackquire™ book’s tone and vibe.
🟪 4/8. Gray Area Minds:
Hackquire™’s gray-areas are a mindset. If you haven’t already, watch They Live. In the film, the main character puts on special glasses and suddenly sees the world differently. That’s the essence—looking beyond the pixels, projects, people, places, and processes to create a world that works for you.
🟩 5/8. Gray Area Method:
The method is below. This method matters and, in many ways, has already started to change the working world—one gray-area work hack (Hackquee) at a time. It all starts with the creators, our network, and those who have signed up to be part of the Hackquire™ collective—a network of gray-area work hack searchers. Because hacks do work!
1. Identify the Grey-Area Hacks:
Observe gray-area hacks in action.
2, Refine the Grey-Area Hacks:
Noted, understood and locked.
3. Filter the Hackquees:
Only the right ones make the cut.
4. Test the Hackquee:
Focus groups, field trials, real-world proof.
5. Score and Characterize:
Ranked and sorted into “Hackquees you want to be” and “Hackquees you don’t.”
We then score them:
Total Score = (Memorability × 1) + (Ease of Application × 1) + (Subtlety × 1) + (Hackquee Type) + (η). The η is an ingredient for the final score.
- Memorable:
Total recall matters.
- Applicable:
Practical, useful, effortless.
- Subtle:
Smart, low-key, seamless.
Then, we characterize them. This is where the final method is applied. Arrrr, wow! This makes them memorable and so easy to understand—this is where the wonder-power becomes real. This will help you truly understand what the Hackquee is, its whole character, and, like brilliant doodles in a work meeting or memes, ultra-memorable.
🟨 6/8. Gray Area Network:
Hackquire™’s gray-area hacks come from two sources: us—the creators of the Hackquire™ book, method, and our network. We have experience across various industries, agencies, businesses, academia, and more. We also live and work around the world, building a trusted community network that seeks out new gray-area hacks every day.
⬜️ 7/8. Gray Area Wisdom:
Hackquire™’s gray-areas in the book are about wisdom. But let’s be clear—we don’t believe wisdom must take time. In fact, across many industries, we’ve seen that wisdom is rarely shared as a formal way of working. You don’t get onboardings with gray-area hacks—you get told where the toaster is and get an email inviting you to Fun Fridays.
⬜️ 8/8. Gray Area Zeitgiest:
Zeitgeist—the pulse of an era, shaped by culture and society. We live in hypernormalization, where everything feels both real and unreal at once.
Work mirrors this paradox. A brilliant idea can backfire. It’s weird—but so are humans. This is the gray-area world where work gray-area hacks swim, and we catch them. But we don’t harm them—we train them.
That’s why this book matters. Bold claim? Maybe. But we’ve tested it. We’ve even taken jobs we didn’t want—undercover, like Jason Bourne, James Bond, or Jackie Bond.
For years, our trusted network has tested gray-area hacks in real work environments. Like, even now, as you read this, gray-area hacks are being tested.
And here’s the wild part: major companies—sometimes even small ones—have unknowingly baked our gray-area hacks into their corporate playbooks. Gray-area hacks we planted, just to see if they’d stick. They did—and these companies have seen their work culture improve and team turnover rates drop.
Even academic institutions have unknowingly benefited. It’s all part of the vision. So yeah, the book is pretty d@mn good. Maybe one day, we’ll tell you which ones. But like any good hack, subtlety is key.
Oh, and we’ve seen alleged big-company employees on TierMaker ranking workplace annoyances—using our TierMaker A-Z of Workplace Annoyances account. Could be real. Could be a keyboard clown.
What we know for sure is that this book—and what it represents—strikes a major gray-area chord, a sweet bassline, or an overly complex harmony with people. With all of us.
As you’ve read this far, we just want to say—we @@@@@@@ love you for your support!
We’d love you anyway because you’re you, but since you’ve made it this far, we vibe with you that little bit extra.
Gray-area hacks matter—because hacks do work!
