itSMF Bulletin November 2017 Bulletin - November 2017 | Page 4

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we
know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are
things that we know we don’t know. But there are also
unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t
know.
—Donald Rumsfeld
All individual and organisational knowledge falls
somewhere on a spectrum. From unknown
unknowns, to unknown knowns, to known un-
knowns, and finally known knowns. When Don-
ald Rumsfeld elevated the concept to public
awareness at a press briefing in 2002, he wasn’t
presenting an original idea. He had taken a
cognitive psychology tool from the 1950s and
adapted it for his own means. The tool he drew
his inspiration from is called the Johari Window
and it was developed by two cognitive psycholo-
gists, Luft and Ingham, as a means of creating an
individual’s self-awareness.
4 itSMF Bulletin—November 2017