When moving a large object (especially a couch), remove everything you can (that is intented to be removable) from the object (legs, pillows) and the path (doors come off hinges easily). The set up and tear down (in testing terms; in practical terms, it is reverse order) steps seem like potential wasted effort, but taken as a mandatory step are constant time. Iterating through the things that need to be removed to achieve the goal is linear, with potentially exponential cost (you get tired). Like what everyone is saying about burn rates in a recession: in hindsight, few regret trimming too early and plenty regret trimming too late. Few complain about a move made too easy.

In theory, this is a straightforward argument that any sufficiently intelligent person could read and practice. In practice, it is not until at least your third move that you pause during the move to question why the plan is "let's just try it first" and "it is not too heavy". But you never see a professional piano mover iterate. This is not a comment trying to propose a solution. I just liked the article for its clean way of expressing how experience matters in your approach.