consequencedriven

Consequencedriven is a term used to describe an approach to decision making, planning, and policy design in which the expected consequences of actions are the primary criterion for selecting among alternatives. The term emphasizes forecasting and evaluating outcomes such as benefits, harms, costs, risks, and distributional effects, and choosing options that maximize desirable results while minimizing negative ones within given constraints. In ethics, it aligns with consequentialist thought, and in professional practice it often takes the form of formal analyses such as cost-benefit assessment, risk assessment, or impact evaluation.

The typical process involves defining objectives, listing viable options, forecasting likely consequences for each option, assessing trade-offs and uncertainties, and selecting the option with the most favorable overall expected impact or an acceptable balance of risks. Decision support methods used with conseqencedriven thinking include cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, decision trees, scenario planning, and sensitivity analysis.

Applications span public policy, corporate strategy, product development, engineering, and safety-critical fields where outcomes can be modeled and measured. Proponents argue that it provides a transparent, quantifiable basis for choices, while critics warn that predictions are imperfect, that value judgments can be embedded in models, and that strict focus on outcomes may neglect rights, duties, equity, or ethical constraints.