The Three Categories of Unintended Consequences

What are the three main categories of unintended consequences?

• Unexpected benefits - With this category of unintended consequence no second-level thinking is involved. Once we notice the outcomes, those outcomes should be direct and predictable.  We can often make these so-called “unexpected benefits” happen again if we take the same actions. Unexpected benefits of some sort are impossible to not find as long as you think broadly and creatively. They are simpler to understand, perhaps, because the benefits created often do not involve the actions of people.
  
  
• Unexpected drawbacks -  This type of unintended consequence occurs when the goal was to improve “A” and we later learn that in the process, we made “B” worse. These are also referred to as “externalities.”
  
  
• Perverse results - ‘Perverse Results’ happen when our goal was to improve “A” but we actually make “A” worse. These are often the most frustrating category of unintended consequences.