Doorman Fallacy

Are you familiar with the “Doorman” fallacy? If not, read the attached because the “Doorman” fallacy explains why you feel so many services and products SUUUUUUCK!

### Overview ###
The “Doorman” fallacy is the mistake of defining a role only by its most visible, mechanical task—like “opening the door”—and then assuming that task can be automated or eliminated without consequences.

### The “Doorman” Fallacy ###
You have a five-star hotel and it has a doorman, welcoming incoming guests.

McKinsey or Accenture will come in and say, “Your doorman currently costs you X thousand dollars a year. We have defined his or her function as opening the door. We’ll replace said doorman with an automatic door-opening mechanism and an infrared human detector and we’ll save you $30–$40,000 a year.”

They walk away, and they take the credit for the cost savings. Two years later, the hotel’s a catastrophe … because the doorman was doing multiple things, many of which were human and kind of tacit.

Security would be one; there are no vagrants asleep in the doorway. Hailing taxis, dealing with luggage, recognizing regular guests, providing status to the hotel—there are loads and loads of value creation components to that doorman which aren’t captured in the open-the-door definition.”
(Source: An X, formerly known as Twitter, post)

### Summary, Ironically Provided by ChatGPT ###
Consultants point to the doorman’s easily measurable function and calculate cost savings by replacing it with an automatic door. What they fail to see are the invisible, high-value functions the doorman performs: maintaining security, signaling prestige, managing taxis and luggage, recognizing guests, and shaping the hotel’s social environment.

The result is predictable: the hotel saves money upfront, then deteriorates because the unmeasured human components were essential all along.

Visible tasks are replaceable.
Invisible tasks are irreplaceable.