You’ll fill out columns B-D outlined below with your team. Don’t feel the need to fill out the whole sheet — certain scenarios may not apply to your product. At the same time, keep an open mind! Some scenarios may be relevant in ways you haven’t yet considered.

Potential effects

A list of potential negative effects, broken down harm into 4 categories: physical, emotional, societal and environmental. Overlap between categories is likely, but the key is to become more aware of your product’s potential consequences.

Examples of how your product might encourage or cause this effect

This is a space for your team to list examples and take notes. Look beyond the user you're specifically designing for – your product can impact even those who don’t use it.

Chance of effect (1-5)

A 5-point scale that describes the degree of confidence your team has that your product produces a certain effect

Tip: Make sure to focus on rating the chance of effect based on the presented scale, and leave questions around priority and level of effort for later.

• 5: Highly probable – There is quantitative evidence and/or a body of pre-existing research which shows that this product or similar products have this effect.
• 4: Probable – There is some evidence from internal research that suggests this product or similar products have this effect. It may be worth validating with additional research or testing.
• 3: Possible – There is anecdotal evidence or the team has voiced concerns over the possibility of an effect. Worth doing additional research or testing.
• 2: Improbable – It is unlikely that the product is uniquely encouraging or causing this effect. It may be worth looking into whether specific populations are affected.
• 1: Highly improbable – There is quantitative evidence and/or a body of pre-existing research that shows this product does not have this effect, or the product is completely unrelated from this effect.

Level of concern (1-5)

A 5-point scale that describes the level of concern your team has about this particular harm, where 5 = Greatest concern and 1 = Least concern. It’s less cut-and-dried than “chance of effect” – you’ll have to use your intuition and common sense to agree upon the potential impact of each harm. Don’t worry about getting it perfect. This number might change as you work through next steps.