A less frequent, but interest quadrant of the Known/Unknown matrix.
Unknown knowns are an interesting quadrant of the Known Unknown Matrix. At first I thought this quadrant existed only as an artifact of geometry. How can you not known that you know something? But this isn’t true. Unknown Knowns do exist. There are effectively two types:
Things you know, but failed to consider:
- You knew your car was out of gas, but forgot to account for that in planning your departure time.
- You knew that Sharon doesn’t like onions, but failed to realize she would be at the party and baked them into your meatloaf.
Things you genuinely didn’t know you already knew
- The sound of hot water pouring into a glass is different than cold water, and you can already tell which is which.
Obviously, examples from the second list are self-removing.
Abating the Symptoms
The only way to reduce the chances of being bitten by the first type of Unknown Knowns is to have a well-established checklist or procedure for a given task, that serves as a queue for you to realize you’re hosed before it really happens.