AI / Analysis & Decision Making
What I Don't Know I Don't Know
List the questions you never thought to ask
I am about to do [thing]. My current understanding and information: [current state]. List only the things I do not know I do not know: 1) The 5 key variables outsiders usually miss in this field; 2) Which questions I never thought to ask that would change the plan once asked; 3) Which words in my description are vague and could be read differently by different people; 4) If someone who has done this read my plan, what three questions would they ask first; 5) Order by 'would this overturn the plan'. Do not summarize what I have already said.
How to use
Ask this before kickoff; after the project it only produces self-justification.
Good for
- First time in an unfamiliar domain (new industry, new platform, new regulation): you've read the intro material and still don't know what you're missing.
- The plan looks complete, but you're its only designer and no second person has pointed at a blind spot yet.
Not for
- You already have a domain expert you can ask — asking a person beats having a model guess what a layperson would miss.
- The problem is clear and only the execution is weak (a bug, copy that doesn't land) — that needs debugging, not a redraw of your map of what you know.
Example
Input
I want to open a 20-square-meter self-service coffee corner in my residential compound. Current understanding: CNY 30,000 for equipment, CNY 6,000/month in rent, about 2,000 households across three nearby compounds.
What you get
You want the variables outsiders miss (property management and fire-safety approval, food-safety filing, which way the morning commute flows, backup supply when the machine breaks), the vague word in your description (“self-service” — unattended, or staffed?), and the first three questions someone who has done this would ask: who restocks and cleans, what the cost per cup is, and whether the building's power supply can take the extra load.
Common mistakes
- Using it as market research: you get a professional-sounding list, paste it into a business plan, and verify none of it.
- Asking “what am I missing” without describing your situation — it can only give generic items (“watch for regulatory risk”) and can't point at the specific thing you missed.
Try tweaking it like this
- Change “list what I don't know I don't know” to “list three questions that would kill the plan” — a broad blind-spot list narrows to the fatal ones.
- Add “rank them by what I could go verify today” — unknowns become a to-do list instead of anxiety.