The image that the term “hacking” immediately brings up is Matthew Broderick in Wargames. Or maybe, what Neo was doing in the first Matrix before he took the red pill. In both examples the protagonist is “hacking” into a previously inaccessible realm of knowledge via individualized, crafty, and spontaneous techniques.
I would agree with the above posters though that relative to what ‘design’ is supposed to be about, that its a redundant term. It is not ‘hacking’ when you are using individualized ingenuity to short-cut your way to solutions, whether in SolidWorks or corporate CMF strategy. You are just being a good designer. “Design hacker” only makes sense in a highly regimented world of CAD surfacing drones.
It also makes me think about the special effects model builders of the 70’s and 80’s before CGI became the prevalent method. Kit-bash some plastic model sets, glue onto plywood, spray paint primer gray, and voila its the Death Star. “Good enough”, impossible to repeat or document well, and gets the job done with good-to-spectacular results with much less time expenditure.