Hacker Team Maturity Levels:

A Practical Measurement for Digital Businesses Performance

ASE embraces Hacker Culture Team Maturity Levels to evaluate and enhance digital business performance, drawing from the hacker community's classification concepts. This scale, relevant for small-team multi-million dollar technology startup investors, helps to decipher terms like cog, peg, knob, poser, champion, hacker, cracker, lol, and snurf in the context of mature company digital transformation team maturity.

The ASE Maturity Levels, inspired by this hacker community concept, is the same numeric scale 1.0 -5.0 range mapping from micromanaged teams ready to adapt and grow, to extraordinary teams that disrupt markets and drive innovation with each merge to trunk. By using a worksheet in the metrics criteria of the continuous program feedback, these numerical values can be broken down into decimals for periodic quick mentoring progress assessment (ex. L1.65).

Perhaps influenced by John Ferguson Smart's concept of the five stages of BDD (and Agile) Adoption and creatively adapted by hackers, the five levels presented at a high-profile hacker conference in Quebec in 2016 are:

  • Levels 1-3: The "Revolution" phase, where a hacker team company transforms, becoming competitive, modern, and achieving stable success. These levels focus on fostering adaptability and resilience within the organization. Level 1 being complacent and level 3 for ordinary unremarkable hackerdom.

  • Level 4: The "Stable High," a natural progression from Level 3 to 4, achieved organically or accelerated by 'minding Bezos’ Flywheel.' This level emphasizes efficiency and profit, allowing the business to flourish. FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) are considered at levels between 3 and 4.

  • Level 5: The "Unstable High," renowned for making headlines and driving constant innovation and market disruption. This level may require continuous effort to maintain, but it showcases the power of groundbreaking achievements and creativity. Companies aiming to the left of The Chasm like Alphabet Technology Incubators, OpenIA, etc. are expected here.

Reaching Level 3 is essential for cultivating a competitive and highly innovative business. These maturity levels offer a constructive framework for understanding and measuring multidisciplinary team performance at a mature company undergoing Digital Transformation embracing the positive aspects of modern hacker jargon.

Does performance come from complacency and affability?

Performance stems from dedication and harmonious collaboration.

Classification Criteria

  1. Motivation: Enduring personal factors that inspire norms and behavior-driving elements.

  2. Entrepreneurial Value: The team's role and influence in achieving tangible business financial goals.

  3. Mindset: Personal governing dynamics that shape shared ideologies and beliefs, guiding contributors' decisions.

  4. Leadership: Individual psychological principles that foster accountability and commitment to successful business outcomes.

  5. Culture: Systematic psychological trends that define the nature of shared and collective values focused on intellectual accomplishments.

  6. Ops: The methods employed by individuals and teams to transform gratifying gains into a tangible business value feedback loop.

  7. Mechanics (Dev): The team's expertise and proficiency in executing business domain features (including development).

Traditional teams are typically compliant but may struggle to respond to disruptions, deliver exceptional customer experiences, utilize competitive methods and tools, or innovate. To transition from this stable low, disruption and change are necessary.

  1. Motivation: "follow instructions," please the boss, "maintain job security"

    1. dominant emotion: caution

    2. role model: middle management

  2. Entrepreneurial Value: limited

    1. Relationship to Entrepreneur: none or indirect

    2. Competitive Edge: minimal, less efficient, slow to adapt

    3. Resource Availability: standard staffing agencies

  3. Mindset:

    1. Conceptual Depth: basic (misinterpretation of Agile Manifesto, for example); limited knowledge

    2. Cultural Vector: "conform to the group"

    3. Social Vector: interests unrelated to work (discussing sports or people)

    4. Developmental Vector: company promotion path, corporate ladder

  4. Leadership:

    1. Personal Leadership: limited, following instructions, "employee"

    2. Personal Disposition: nod, agreeable, "guide me"

  5. Cultural Markers: emphasis on compliance, "attend meetings," "follow orders," "copy-and-paste"

  6. Competitive Method of Operation (Ops):

    1. Disposition: adhere to what DevOps team suggests

    2. Manifestation: reporting on meetings in standup

    3. Structure: waterfall, pseudo-agile (fragile)

  7. Competitive Skill and Acumen (Mechanics):

    1. Mastered Abilities: outdated, minimal, difficulty understanding and implementing mature technologies and concepts (Kubernetes, Microservices, Strangler Fig)

    2. Capacity to Learn: untrained, many may have ceased self-education since college

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Level 1: Traditional Team of ‘Generics’


”Complacency” - A stable low

Level 2: "Emerging Innovators” (posers)


”Exploration” - unstable

This intermediate team is commonly found in organizations experiencing forced corporate transformation initiatives (top-down DX models), natural business success, or other sources of disruption.

New traits over Level 1:

  1. Motivation: intrigued by empowerment, may not understand self-empowerment and expect to be empowered by management

    1. dominant emotion: confusion arising from curiosity and desire for freedom, countered by fear; impostor syndrome

    2. role model: company leadership in addition to management

  2. Entrepreneurial Value: minimal (optimistic)

    1. Relationship to Entrepreneur: indirect

  3. Mindset:

    1. Conceptual Depth: Appreciation to Comprehension (evolving understanding of Agile Manifesto, for example)

    2. Cultural Vector: exploration, possibly aware of Hacker Culture

    3. Social Vector: conflicted, inconsistent

    4. Developmental Vector: focused on tools, certificate collection

  4. Leadership:

    1. Personal Leadership: exploring, dislike being told what to do, “employee”

    2. Personal Disposition: cautious, “Is it OK if I do … ?”, approval seeking

  5. Cultural Markers: unstable, changing values, fragile, easily influenced

  6. Ops:

    1. Disposition: experimentation with DevOps and automation, inter-silo friction

    2. Manifestation: attempts to differentiate, incorporation of new knowledge, various degrees of success

    3. Structure: attempt at Agile Team Formation

  7. Mechanics:

    1. Mastered Abilities: improving, experimentation with stable recent technical development (Kubernetes, Microservices, Strangler Fig), initial mastery of fundamentals; “Hello world!” phase

    2. Capacity to Learn: improving, discovery of hacker communities

This is where most of the reported failed efforts sit: the team never attained the required mindset to acquire the self-sufficiency of the next level. Success is about what the team can do rather than what can be done to the team.

This level represents the majority of reported failed efforts, as teams often fail to attain the necessary mindset to achieve self-sufficiency found in the next level.
Success is about what the team can accomplish on its own, rather than what can be done for the team.

Technology and Business are one! At Level 4 team maturity, proper hacker teams become one with technology and business, serving as the cornerstone of a company's competitive strategy delivery. These teams focus on market penetration and dominance, integrating seamlessly with the entrepreneur, sales, and marketing departments.

New traits over Level 3:

  1. Motivation: Irreversibly self-empowered; domain outcome driven

    1. dominant emotion: Seeking inclusion and recognition - this must be understood

    2. role model: Competition, roadmap team, community

  2. Entrepreneurial Value: Strategic market value

    1. Relationship to Entrepreneur: Limited asymmetric partnership

    2. Competitive Edge: Counter-disruption value iteration

    3. Resource Availability: Personal reference, business development; traditional recruiters are not aware of this talent pool; companies like Google and LinkedIn run highly specialized recruitment departments; startups find talent practically 100% by personal reference

  3. Mindset:

    1. Conceptual Depth: Expansion

    2. Cultural Vector: Extroverted, broad reach, natural marketing (see YouTube company formation)

    3. Social Vector: “Evangelist“

    4. Developmental Vector: strategic risk optimization - this is a hallmark metric to be considered for level 4

  4. Leadership:

    1. Personal Leadership: Durable agent of change

    2. Personal Disposition: Hacker Ethics

  5. Cultural Markers: Hacker Ethics

  6. Ops:

    1. Disposition: End-to-end multidiscipline team, any silos are regarded as foreign concepts

    2. Manifestation: Ultimate customer satisfaction, organic customer referrals

    3. Structure: business and technology is one inseparable unit, no department divisions

  7. Mechanics:

    1. Mastered Abilities: Adequate and modern, pockets of exceptional expertise

    2. Capacity to Learn: Optimized, embedded in company culture of learning

    3. Feature Specification: Business strategy optimized; profit matrix drives all decisions

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Level 4: Hacker Team

”Experience” - The stable high; Bezos’ Flywheel

The [business - tech - market] flywheel feedback loop is the telling feature

Success begins with a self-empowered, self-sufficient multidisciplinary team of champions and the community of practice this team cultivates.

New traits over Level 2:

  1. Motivation: experimentation with and realization of self-empowerment; embracing full accountability

    1. dominant emotion: success, accomplishment, drive

    2. role model: greater hacker community

  2. Entrepreneurial Value: direct market value

    1. Relationship to Entrepreneur: developing synergy

    2. Competitive Edge: nimble, short business value iteration

    3. Resource Availability: hackathon, expos, personal reference, GitHub resume, traditional recruiters become useless in finding new talent, SpaceX or Netflix HR models potentially not yet discovered, new talent shortage

  3. Mindset:

    1. Conceptual Depth: Adoption

    2. Cultural Vector: community of practice, open collaboration, rejection of perceptions, trends, buzzwords, and herd mentality

    3. Social Vector: “I am what I do”, “I do what I preach“

    4. Developmental Vector: emphasis on learning, Hacker Culture, rejection of imposed authority

  4. Leadership:

    1. Personal Leadership: a life-changing personal development milestone, “independent professional”, collaborating by choice and commitment, willing to leave when encountering imposed, unearned authority

    2. Personal Disposition: “Don’t ask for permission”, “in production today“, indifferent of approval, independent thinking, objective and fact -driven decision making, end-to-end accountability

  5. Cultural Markers: openness, “need to ship”, performance driven, fully collaborative, open community of practice, shared “everything”

  6. Ops:

    1. Disposition: domain ownership, drives initiatives, influences improvements

    2. Manifestation: iterative business value, “in production today”, automation, DDD, BDD, TDD, Extreme Programming, Design Patterns, etc.

    3. Structure: stable Agile, correct embodiment of Agile Manifesto, tight feedback loop, multidiscipline team, anti-silos, community-centric

  7. Mechanics:

    1. Mastered Abilities: generally adequate, sufficient breadth, limited depth; fluent programming style, event storming, storytelling, test-first, declarative, “everything in code”, etc.

    2. Capacity to Learn: maximized, self-improvement drive

    3. Feature Specification: business-centric, direct value to customer, domain-specific ubiquitous language

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Level 3: Team of ‘Champions’


”Discovery” - A stable new

At this stage, hacker teams are driven by a desire for inclusion and recognition, serving as role models for competition, roadmap teams, and the broader community. They work closely with the entrepreneur, forming a limited asymmetric partnership that focuses on strategic market value and counter-disruption value iteration. With access to personal references and business development resources, these teams embody the hacker ethics and act as evangelists for the company's vision and products. Everyone, from the entrepreneur to the team members, actively participates in recruiting new talent, creating a unique and thriving company culture that embraces its own distinct brand of Hacker Culture and Values.

The end-to-end multidisciplinary team structure ensures that business and technology are one inseparable unit, focusing on ultimate customer satisfaction and organic customer referrals. With optimized learning capacity and expertise in key areas, Level 4 hacker teams deliver a business strategy that is optimized for profit and market success. Additionally, the unique talent pool of hacker teams is typically sourced through personal references or highly specialized recruitment departments of companies like Google and LinkedIn, as traditional recruiters may not be aware of this valuable resource constituting less than 1% of all available software engineers and business experts.


A little backbone goes a long way!

Level 5: The Disruptor

“Innovation” - The unstable high

At this level of maturity there’s no separation between the team and the entrepreneurial value. The dynamic is pure Hacker Culture melded with Entrepreneurial Spirit, like YouTube 2005-2006, a stark contrast to a typical Laggard culture of 2023. Within a disruptor, every contributor is directly involved in financial objectives and decisions, while the executives are keenly aware and involved in even the most minute technical aspects of the business software platform. Picture Elon Musk barging in on the Full Vehicle Test Simulation software team to question the latest merge request. In contrast, Laggard organizations are siloed and compartmentalized, with barriers stifling information, power, and decision flow.

New traits over Level 4:

  1. Motivation: Power, dominance, ownership

    1. dominant emotion: Fierce competitiveness, Linus Torvalds’ type of aggression

    2. role model: Past disruptors

  2. Entrepreneurial Value:

    1. Relationship to Entrepreneur: Symmetric partnership; one and the same

    2. Competitive Edge: Market dominance

    3. Resource Availability: The scene, hacker competitions, demos at expos, personal referrals

  3. Mindset:

    1. Conceptual Depth: Mastery, Intuition

    2. Cultural Vector: Competitive cooperation

    3. Social Vector: Business-focused, even on personal tech blogs; bound to the corporate hacker brand

    4. Developmental Vector: Invention, business dominance

  4. Leadership:

    1. Personal Leadership: Dedication, partnership

    2. Personal Disposition: Hacker Ethics

  5. Cultural Markers: Hacker Ethics

  6. Ops:

    1. Disposition: Operational alpha detachment, tactical stagger; self-enforced evolution on releases

    2. Manifestation: Sustained market disruption, one common roadmap, strict IT hiring criteria with 100% rejection of generics (see Netflix example) and constant resource attrition

    3. Structure: technology is business - business is technology; everything is the brand

  7. Mechanics:

    1. Mastered Abilities: Superior

    2. Capacity to Learn: Unlimited, concentric

    3. Feature Specification: Customer mindset simulation, market simulation, ML augmented aggregates

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At this stage, the team and entrepreneurial value become one, with Hacker Culture and Entrepreneurial Spirit intertwined. These teams prioritize power, dominance, and ownership, and are motivated by fierce competitiveness. They work in symmetric partnerships, striving for market dominance and constantly evolving. With a mastery of skills and an intuitive approach, they focus on competitive cooperation and business-focused communication. Their dedication to Hacker Ethics drives their leadership, operations, and decision-making. The disruptor aims for sustained market disruption and adheres to strict IT hiring criteria, ensuring that technology and business become inseparable facets of the organization's brand.

This scale is created by the greater hacker community for the general hackerdom and the business friendly summary should be something like this:

1. Level 1: The Novice

At this stage, teams are new to hacking and focus on learning. They lack experience and encounter challenges in communication and collaboration. Their goals are to develop basic skills and find their place within the hacker community.

2. Level 2: The Apprentice

Apprentice teams have acquired basic skills and are motivated by recognition and career growth. They focus on practical objectives and utilize personal networks for learning and resources. These teams start cultivating their hacker identity.

3. Level 3: The Journeyman

Journeyman teams possess extensive experience, tackling complex projects and challenges. Driven by accomplishment, they emphasize open-source contributions, seeking to integrate with the hacker community and establish a strong reputation.

4. Level 4: The Proper Hacker Team

At this stage, teams concentrate on market penetration and dominance. They collaborate closely with entrepreneurs, forming partnerships that prioritize strategic market value and counter-disruption value iteration. Driven by inclusion and recognition, these teams become cornerstones of the company's competitive strategy delivery.

5. Level 5: The Disruptor

Disruptor teams seamlessly blend Hacker Culture and Entrepreneurial Spirit. They prioritize power, dominance, and ownership, aiming for market dominance and continuous evolution. With a strong dedication to Hacker Ethics, these teams lead, operate, and make decisions to achieve sustained market disruption. Technology and business unite, forming an inseparable aspect of the organization's brand.

Tetiana Kuhay
Chief Executive Officer