How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Oppportunities, and Threats. SWOT Analysis is a tool that enables a subjective assessment of a given situation or subject in order to make critical decisions that are related to planning and risk management. During a Project or Iteration Kickoff, the output of a SWOT Analysis can provide you key inputs for creating the project plans. For example, if a specific section or set of activities of a project are being out­sourced, a SWOT Analysis can help you determine the risks and opportunities associated with each outsourced vendor that is being considered. You can then create the plans accordingly. Therefore, SWOT Analysis is useful for Risk Management and Resource Management.

To conduct a SWOT Analysis, a 2-by-2 grid template is used. Each section of the grid has one of the SWOT headings:Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (as shown in the diagram). During the SWOT Analysis session, each section of the grid is populated.

Note: It is common for the Project Manager to delegate the task of facilitation to a member in the team.

When conducting the session, you need to invite stakeholders who have varied interests. For example, you may have the client, the technical consultant, process consultant, and the team invited to the session. It is crucial that you communicate the purpose of the session. For example, the purpose could be to decide on a Go-No-Go decision for a project or it could be a generic health analysis of an ongoing project. Whatever the purpose, as a Project Man­ager, you need to enable the stakeholders to discuss and channel thought in order to come out with rich information. To do this, you should have a set of questions ready with you.

Mentioned below is a list of questions that might be helpful. Depending on your reasons for using SWOT, you can change the questions accordingly.

Strengths

• What are the advantages of the proposition?
  
• How competent is the project team? If we are using Agile, then is the team ramped-up for it?
  
• What are the Unique Selling Points of the proposition or project?
• Do we have the necessary resources, assets, and people?
• What is the estimated profitability of the project?

Weakness

• What are the disadvantages of the proposition?
• Are we using the most optimal methodology? Should we be using SCRUM? Do we have someone qualified to play the role of a ScrumMaster?
• Do we have any capability gaps?
  
• Do we have the financial strength to complete the project?
• Are the timelines practical?

Opportunities

• What are the latest market developments?
• Are there competitor vulnerabilities?
• Are there industry trends that we can leverage?
• What technology developments have taken place in this field?
• Can we leverage globalization? Is outsourcing an option?
  

Threats

• Is the market demand sustainable?
• Are there any competing technologies or services that'll make success challenging?
• How will we account for staff attrition?
• Do we have sustainable financial backing?
• What are the current global economical implications?

Apart from the Project Management domain, you can use a SWOT Analysis to:

• review a company
• analyze a product or brand
• consider a business idea or an investment opportunity
• understand the impact of a change in vendor
• identify the benefits and risks associated with outsourcing a service, activity or resource

The list can go on and on. Just remember whenever you have a critical decision to make, you should conduct a SWOT Analysis to ensure you have all the information necessary to make an informed decision.