The 'doorman fallacy' names a real product design failure mode

A post on the 'Doorman's Fallacy' got traction, describing the pattern where technology replaces a human role but removes the human judgment that made the role valuable. The QR code menu was the clean example: it eliminates the waiter as an ordering interface but also eliminates the waiter as someone who can read the table, make recommendations, or handle an exception.

Commenters extended the pattern to drone delivery, parking apps, and other cases where the automation technically works but degrades the full experience. One comment landed cleanly: 'We underestimate how valuable and useful the technology of a human really is.'

For founders building automation or AI replacement products, this is a useful diagnostic. The question isn't whether the automated version can perform the core task. It's whether the judgment and exception-handling that came for free with the human have been accounted for anywhere in the new system.