
Ask HN: What is the term for faking automation by using human labor? - hotpockets
Like early in a startup you fake automation by really using human power.  Its supposed to look automated but there is a human behind the scenes doing it.  I swear there is a term for this that I can&#x27;t think of.  Best I can think of is meatgearing.
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jonny_storm
Mechanical Turk:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk)

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hotpockets
I mean like, you have a 3 person startup and one of you is running around
doing work that your customers assume must be already automated.

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detaro
"doing thinks that don't scale"?

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unimpressive
Yes, doing things that don't scale or mechanical turking. I couldn't imagine
what else you mean.

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147
I'm very certain the phrase you're looking for is "wizard of oz". That's what
Eric Ries called these types of MVPs in The Lean Startup.

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147
Here's a link: [https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-
Wizard-o...](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-Wizard-of-Oz-
testing)

'Definition of Wizard of Oz testing in Eric Ries' book "The Lean Startup":
"where customers believe they are interacting with the actual product, but
behind the scenes human beings are doing the work"'

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kek918
I think a lot of small companies does this in the beginning if the task is
hard to implement and you have other critical tasks to finish first. I never
knew it had a term, fun to know "Mechanical Turk"

"Manual automation" could be another term :)

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brotchie
Pretty sure one term for it is "concierge MVP" where you make it look like a
legit automated service, but in-fact behind the scenes it's all human labour.

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kazuyan
There are two similar but different methods.

Concierge Test is used to understand the mechanics, not user demand. Wizard of
Oz (aka Mechanical Turk) is used to evaluate hypotheses.

The more detail in the post by Tristan Kromer below.

[https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-
test...](https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-test/)

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boulos
In addition to mechanical turk, there's also the phrase "Fake it till you make
it" which is somewhat appropriate (the connotation is more like "pretend to be
a success").

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stray
Work?

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hotpockets
Ha! I tried editing my text to be clearer what I'm referring to.

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danieltillett
Unicorn.

