Unintended Consequences
Unintended Consequences is an ideation exercise in which small groups list existing technologies or businesses, name the side effects those have caused without meaning to, and turn each side effect into a possible new business. It was created by Tom Klinkowstein for Hyper Island. The exercise trains people to look for opportunities in second-order effects instead of starting from a blank page.
Facilitation script
- 1
Form groups of three to five and tell a short story of an unintended consequence. Ask for one more example from the room to check the idea has landed.
5 min - 2
Groups list at least five technologies or businesses, one per sticky note, and spread them out on their wall or table.
5 min - 3
Groups brainstorm at least three unintended consequences per item and post them next to it.
10 min - 4
Each group shares two or three of its most surprising consequences with the room.
5 min - 5
Groups propose a business model for each consequence: customer, offer and how it earns money, in one sentence each.
12 min - 6
Groups present their most interesting idea, then the whole room reflects on which ideas were most unexpected or viable and what they learned about generating ideas.
8 min
Tips
Choose an opening story the group has lived through, because the exercise depends on people recognising side effects from their own experience.
Push groups past the obvious consequences everyone has read about; the third or fourth consequence of an item is usually where the original ideas sit.
Keep the business model step light: one sentence on customer, offer and revenue is enough at this stage.
Common pitfalls
Groups list only famous examples such as social media, so every table produces the same well-known consequences and nothing new
Consequences stay negative and general, which turns the round into a complaint session with nothing specific enough to build on
Teams spend the whole business model step perfecting one idea and never reach the less obvious consequences
The reflection is cut for time, so participants leave with a list of ideas but no sense of the transferable habit of looking at side effects
Ideas that profit from a harmful side effect go unchallenged; ask groups whether a proposal reduces the harm or depends on it
Variations
For an in-house innovation session, replace the open list with the company's own products or with technologies in its sector. For a tech-ethics discussion, drop the business model step and ask groups to sort consequences by who bears them and what a responsible response would look like. Remote groups work in breakout rooms on a shared board with one column per technology. With only two or three people, run it as one group and halve the number of items.
Where it fits
When to use it
An innovation or venture workshop needs a quick first round of opportunity ideas that are not the usual feature requests
A group thinks about technology only in terms of intended benefits and needs practice in spotting side effects
You want a 30 to 60 minute opener before deeper business model work
Students or new founders need a repeatable way to find problems worth solving
A product team wants to look at what its own product has caused beyond its purpose
When not to use it
You need a thorough map of the consequences of one specific decision or trend; use a Futures Wheel, which goes to second and third order in a structured way
The group already has a chosen idea and needs to develop it; move to a Business Model Canvas instead
Participants have no shared knowledge of the technologies under discussion, so the consequences will be guesswork; start with trend research first
The session must end with a validated or prioritised concept; this exercise produces raw ideas and needs a selection step afterwards
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Unintended Consequences?▾
Unintended Consequences is an ideation exercise by Tom Klinkowstein for Hyper Island. Small groups list technologies or businesses, identify side effects those have caused without intending to, and then design a business that responds to each side effect. It takes 30 to 60 minutes.
How many people can take part?▾
The source describes it for 2 to 40 people working in groups of three to five. Because all groups work in parallel, the only part that grows with group size is the sharing, so with many groups limit each to its single best idea.
How is it different from a Futures Wheel?▾
A Futures Wheel takes one trend or decision and maps its consequences outward through several orders. Unintended Consequences looks back at side effects that have already happened across several technologies and adds a step that converts each into a business opportunity. Use the wheel for foresight on one topic and this exercise for opportunity finding.
Do the business ideas need to be realistic?▾
Not at this stage. The exercise is about quantity and about practising a way of seeing, so a one-sentence model is enough. If the session should lead somewhere, add a short selection round and develop the chosen ideas with a canvas afterwards.
What makes a good opening example?▾
A side effect that participants have experienced themselves and that the makers of the technology clearly did not plan for. It should be concrete and neither purely good nor purely bad, so the group sees that consequences can cut both ways.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Tom Klinkowstein for Hyper Island.