It is a truth universally acknowledged that an organization in pursuit of growth must pursue change. Yes, I know, Jane Austen will be spinning in her grave. I’m not wrong though. Simply due to inflation, if an organization makes no progress, then it is going backwards: as costs rise over time, with no change, profits will diminish. Therefore, organizations must constantly change to stay competitive. This also applies to personal development. If you do not work on yourself then you become less marketable in your career or your relationships. Why should you be employed when a new starter will be cheaper and keener? So, now we know change is needed, what should be changed? Maybe you or someone in the organisation has an idea, maybe not. In either case, some basic analysis is needed to support the transition from now to the future state. What is needed is perhaps the most basic technique in a Business Analysts’ toolkit… SWOT Analysis! Oh, you knew that already as you read the header… good job! So what is SWOT Analysis? SWOT is an acronym for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats”. It’s a framework that can be applied to help focus attention on factors affecting you and your organization. It is most often displayed in a 2x2 grid with one of these titles taking up a frame. You’re probably thinking Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, are quite explicit terms. Give yourself five minutes to pick something you want to work on (product/service, niche, or yourself) and try to fill these boxes. Don’t worry I’ll wait… How did you go? You may have been able to put a few ideas down, maybe you still have a blank page. How to use the framework Simple frameworks, like this 2x2 matrix support idea generation once we know the rules. So, let’s learn a bit more about how the structure of the boxes can help us fill them: - The top row is for Strengths and Weaknesses. These are the internal forces i.e. what you, or your organization, are currently doing. The two boxes in the bottom row are external forces i.e. what is happening with competitors and market forces. - The first column with Strengths and Opportunities are helpful (positive) factors. The second column is the counterpoint, Threats and Weaknesses are the hindrances (negative) factors.