The problem of unintended effects comes from the fact that we all have bounded rationality. In other words, our understanding of the world has certain boundaries based on our experience.

For example, we may understand our work area completely, but have only a general or superficial understanding of other departments and their interrelationships. In turn, we have a limited understanding of how changes we implement will affect other areas of the organization.

Therefore, changes to the system may result in unknown risks.