What is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT Analysis organizes four elements — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats — to support strategic decision-making.
It’s useful not just for business planning, but also for personal goal-setting and project reviews.
The four elements fall along two axes.
| Positive | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Internal (within your control) | Strengths | Weaknesses |
| External (outside your control) | Opportunities | Threats |
Where this works well
- When you want to weigh your (or your team’s) internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats before deciding on a strategy
- When you’re about to start a new project or venture and want to surface the strengths you can lean on along with the risks
- When you want a recurring checkpoint — a year-end review or team retrospective — to reassess where things stand
How to build it in ThinkTray
Step 1: Place four header cards in a 2×2 grid
Use the Card tool (R) to place four header cards arranged as a 2×2 grid.
[Strengths (S)] [Weaknesses (W)]
[Opportunities (O)] [Threats (T)]
To make the headers stand out, increase the font size or change the card color.
Step 2: Write out items for each element
Below each header card, add cards for everything that comes to mind.
- Strengths — What you or your team do well; resources you have
- Weaknesses — Missing skills, resources, or things that need improvement
- Opportunities — External changes or conditions you can take advantage of (market trends, social shifts, etc.)
- Threats — External risks to watch out for (competition, regulatory changes, etc.)
One item per card makes it easier to rearrange later.
Step 3: Cross-SWOT analysis (advanced)
Once you’ve filled in the four quadrants, think about strategies by combining pairs.
Use the Line tool (L) to draw arrows between related cards. This reveals which strengths can capitalize on which opportunities.
| Combination | Strategic direction |
|---|---|
| Strengths × Opportunities | Aggressive growth (SO strategy) |
| Strengths × Threats | Use strengths to avoid threats (ST strategy) |
| Weaknesses × Opportunities | Overcome weaknesses to seize opportunities (WO strategy) |
| Weaknesses × Threats | Minimize risk (WT strategy) |
Tips
- Write weaknesses and threats objectively, without judgment — The goal is an honest picture of current reality. Write facts, not criticism or excuses.
- Write individually before sharing — When working as a team, have everyone write separately first, then consolidate. You’ll get a wider range of perspectives.
- Review regularly — The external environment changes. Revisiting SWOT every six months to a year on the same topic makes change tangible.
- Follow up in text — Once the diagram is complete, summarize your SWOT conclusions and next actions in a
.txtor.tt.htmlfile in the same folder.
SWOT Analysis is attributed to Albert Humphrey and colleagues at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s–70s, though its exact origins are disputed. Wikipedia