A project risk is simply ‘uncertainty that can affect outcome’.

And when we classify risks, we focus on the types of impact that they can have:
Schedule
Budget
Technology
People
Compliance
Political…
Etc

We rarely think of the differences in the kinds of uncertainties.

Yet, differences there are. And they are important. The easiest classification is into:

Known-knowns
Risks we know all about, but their occurrence remains random
Probabilistic risks - aka Aleatory risks

Known-unknowns
Risks that arise from gaps in our knowledge, which we are aware about
Reducible risks - aka Epistemological risks

Unknown-unknowns – or ‘unk-unks’
Gaps in our knowledge about which we are wholly ignorant
Fog of ignorance, or 'Black Swans' - aka Ontological risks

For more about Black Swans, see 'What is a Black Swan?'    • What is a Black Swan?  

Unknown-knowns
Things we do have knowledge of – but that it has been lost or obscured
Hidden knowledge - aka Latent risks


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