Technologists, particularly product managers, do not make design choices in a vacuum. Often, they have quantitative objectives they hope to achieve as part of their quarterly goals. But purely pursuing those objectives without considering risks to various stakeholders-for example, erosion of users' attention or users becoming politically radicalized-may result in considerable harm for not only the product's users but also for the organization. This technical note helps managers think about the unintended consequences of shipping a given feature. It will also help identify win-win solutions that can enable one to hit target metrics while mitigating negative stakeholder consequences.

Anna Bender, VP of product at Workaround, a large human resources (HR) software firm, had just been presented with a number of different recommendations from her employees on how to integrate the functionality and data from a recently acquired software company that had a leading chat app into Workaround's offerings. Although she was impressed by many of the suggestions, Bender was also ethically conflicted about some of them. The business opportunities and ethical implications of each of the three proposals weighed on Bender's mind as she prepared to meet with the senior leadership team the next day. Before doing so, however, she had to identify the potential ethical issues with each suggestion and analyze ways they might be minimized, particularly with regard to privacy and potential antitrust concerns. The worst possible outcome would be getting dragged up in front of Congress. Yet, more broadly, she wanted her decision to reflect the core values of Workaround's business and her own personal values.

Tessa Lyons was a rising star at Facebook. She had been the project manager in charge of news feed integrity for a little over a year, stationed at the front lines in the battle against misinformation and "fake news." However, in early 2019, she faced an ethical dilemma that could define her tenure at the company and perhaps her career: whether to ban Alex Jones and the content from his platform, Infowars, from the Facebook news feed.