The following figure shows you the connection between the degree of knowledge about risks, the corresponding procedure and the project management method used. This is where problem management comes in. In connection with risk management, these knowns are often confused with risks, even though they are actually current, already known problems. They are clear facts that have to be incorporated directly into the project planning and be dealt with operationally. The “known” are knowledge that the project already has. This word play may be a bit confusing for you at first, but it is important to understand it in order to practice effective risk management. In this article, I will show you exactly what this play on words means and what connection it has with risk management. In risk management you have to deal with the “known unknowns” and the “unknown unknowns”. The use of this confusing statement has been criticized by many. Rumsfeld made this statement at a press conference on 12 February 2002 when he announced that there was no evidence that Iraq was supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” (Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld)

We also know there are known unknowns that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. There are known knowns there are things we know we know. Was he deliberately trying to confuse the audience with this unusual quote? What Are the Known Unknowns?ĭonald Rumsfeld has made this wordplay so well known. What does this wordplay have to do with risk management and why is it important to understand it? In this article you will learn an elementary basis of risk management, which will make risk management in your project even more successful. Of experience.The Known, the Known Unknowns and the Unknown Unknowns. The can-no-longer-remembers, the slow impeachment The irregularities of memory, the unknown knowns, She dreamsĪ language which cannot trouble her, a vocabulary The stars madden, and satellites hum silently This from 'In Sleep', in William Logan's Sad-faced Men (1982). We all 'know' a lot more about the principles governing correct usage of our mother tongue than we're conciously aware of. But I suggest that we have a particularly good example close to home here at EL&U. You don't often hear the combination he didn't say – unknown knowns – because we find that one hardest to conceptualise. To avoid misunderstandings about any of the three combinations he actually used, Rumsfeld defined each one very succinctly immediately after saying it. Some people were keen to mock Rumsfeld's words, but they really are simple and easy to grasp.

Known unknowns