
Ask HN: How do you get better at spotting Unknown Unknowns? - jimsojim
What are some strategies that have helped you spot the unknown unknowns in your profession?
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theprotocol
The only way I have ever known is to have the idea that every single decision
is imperfect in some way, and to keep a low resolution idea in my mind of what
kind of imperfection that might be and what consequences it may have. If one
possible imperfection nags at me for long enough, then in thinking about it,
the resolution can be increased and a determination can be made about its
impact, and whether it is an acceptable compromise. This tends to happen
preemptively, but can also be used when a concerning unknown begins to rear
its head.

This is not as daunting as it might sound. It's somewhat similar to how a
"picky" personality would think, e.g. Jerry Seinfeld's character in his
sitcom. You have to be an annoying nagger in your mind, albeit without the
comedically hyperbolic verbalization, obviously.

This can make you much slower at first, as you'll be debating things in your
head a lot. But I find you get a lot faster once you get used to it and the
"nagging" happens in a not-very-high-effort thought process.

tl;dr: perfectionism.

Of course, for specific situations, there will be known tools and processes
for flushing out unknown unknowns e.g. fuzzing.

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thedevindevops
Mapping of known knows and known unknowns with comparison to previous
documentation on similar projects, experience and educated guesswork where
answers are not forthcoming.

