Are you wasting time on placebo progress?
Did you know that most ‘door close’ buttons in US elevators don’t actually work? True story.
For regulatory reasons, doors need to be open for a minimum time to allow people to get in. To comply, many buttons have been disabled or use a timer that makes them basically useless because when the timer expires, the doors will close anyway.
Psychologists call this placebo buttons. The funny thing about placebo buttons is that people still press them.
Why? Because it feels good.
It feels like you’re doing something.
You’re in control.
Even when nothing really happens.
And isn’t that exactly how some organizations work?
They have all these buttons to press that have zero effect.
The meetings.
The reviews.
The reports.
All of which give you the illusion of progress but too often have no actual effect.
But what’s really interesting is what happens next: People start having opinions about it.
They develop tools to press the button more effectively.
They create templates and procedures to increase efficiency.
They even hold workshops about button-pressing.
They write guidelines.
And still, the door doesn’t move an inch.
But you’re already in the trap.
Because the better you get at pressing a non-functioning button, the harder it becomes to admit that it was never functioning in the first place.
Actual progress only starts when someone dares to ask:
“What if this button doesn’t do anything at all?
Maybe we shouldn’t get better at pressing it.”
That moment of clarity can feel uncomfortable.
But it is also the only way to stop wasting energy on placebo progress and start lighting a path that actually opens doors.
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
PS: Here’s some more background. Today, most buttons actually do technically work, but only after a delay, which means that pressing the button usually won’t significantly speed up door closing. If you want the full background, here’s a good writeup.