(cheerful music)
- As project managers,
we're lucky to have a full set of tools available to us
to help us approach any project challenge.
We have tools that bring our teams together,
uncover issues, guide a project to an end,
and everything in between.
Determining what tools should be used
in each situation can feel daunting.
There are definitely some you could use for every project,
while others collect a bit more dust.
The SWOT analysis is one that gets left in the toolbox
a little bit too often.
It's a great tool that can bring a team together,
create transparency around tough issues,
and identify key risks and opportunities
that will help with project planning.
Let's take a deeper look to see when
and why you should give a SWOT analysis
a bigger spotlight in your projects.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that allows you
and your team to determine organizational strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
It's typically represented as a table
or matrix with each element in its own section or quadrant.
A SWOT analysis assesses both internal and external factors.
Internal factors are aspects within your control,
things like skills, assets, resources,
and competitive advantage.
They're typically the strengths
and weaknesses categories in the SWOT matrix.
External factors are outside of your control.
They might be major events, economic changes,
marketplace shifts, pandemics, and even more.
These are the opportunities and threats.
You can use a SWOT analysis to evaluate a project,
business plan, content strategy, and even yourself.
It's very adaptable to many situations.
This type of analysis can be useful in project management
because it allows you to identify areas of risk and growth
within a project or team.
From there, you and your team can use those findings
to create a strategic plan
that improves your chance of project success.
A SWOT analysis is made up of four core elements,
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Let's dive into what each SWOT component means
and explore some simple examples of each one.
Strengths or factors within your control
that will help the project succeed.
They might include a person, existing skillset,
how the organization is positioned,
or a specific aspect about the scoped project.
Listing out your strengths first helps create
a clear understanding of what success looks like
and start your SWOT analysis on a positive note.
On screen are some examples of project strengths.
Weaknesses or internal factors
that could negatively impact the project
and make it difficult to succeed.
Some strengths on your list might lead to a clear weakness,
while weaknesses can help you identify opportunities
in the next step.
Talking about weaknesses can be uncomfortable
because no one likes dwelling on the gaps.
If you do a SWOT analysis with an external client,
let your team know what's okay to call out
in front of the client
versus what's best discussed internally.
For example, it's good to to alert your client to the fact
that your team is working on two projects at once
because it sets clear expectations
around your availability and response time.
Take a look at some of the examples
of project weaknesses I've listed on screen.
Opportunities are factors that can help your project succeed
or save it from failure if correctly executed.
The tricky thing is, they're a bit outside of your control.
They might be opportunities that already exist,
but haven't been acted on,
or they might be future wins that will come
with the completion of the project.
Reviewing the strengths and weaknesses
you've already captured in your SWOT analysis
will help you get ideas for this list.
Just be sure any opportunities you include
are concrete and realistic.
Here's some examples of project opportunities.
Threats are external factors
that could hurt the success of your project
and are often out of your control.
Identifying these factors before the project begins
can help you set expectations with your team
and stakeholders around potential points of failure.
I've noticed some examples of project threats on screen.
A SWOT analysis is a simple yet powerful exercise
that can easily flow
into a project manager's strategic planning process.
It gives you and your team space to worry and dream,
and can also bring the project
and its variables into more focus.
But how you complete the analysis
and what you do with its findings
determines the true value of the tool.
Let's look at several advantages
a SWOT analysis can provide when it's done right.
Conducting a SWOT analysis enables you
to identify areas of weakness
and potential project gaps from the start.
That way you can address any concerns
with a proactive project plan.
Of course, not all risks are factors you can control,
but at least knowing them
allows you to create a better strategy.
Performing a SWOT analysis also gives you the chance
to discuss strengths and opportunities.
Focusing on the good aspects of your project and team
sets a positive tone right from the start.
It also shines a light on skills
and aspects you might not have realized
you have available to you.
As a project manager, you should always be thinking,
but what do they really want?
A lot of time goes into the project scope,
but the client always forgets to mention something.
Think of your SWOT analysis
as a free form brainstorming session
that gives you another chance to listen and learn.
It's always easier to work new insights
or hidden scope into the plan at the beginning of a project
instead of the middle or the end.
Doing a SWOT analysis before a project begins
can also uncover new project opportunities.
While some of these items might be addressed
in the current scope, many will not be.
This opens the door to discuss phase two work
that could generate additional revenue
for both you and the client.
When reviewing a project's contract scope,
I always find red flags, those pesky items
that keep every project manager up at night.
A SWOT analysis makes it easy
to sneak those concerns in with a positive
so you don't have to be a downer in your first meetings.
It also gives others a chance to raise red flags
so the bad news isn't always coming from you.
Discussing these upfront makes everyone aware of the risks,
not just select stakeholders.
Completing this activity as a team
with different levels of stakeholders from both sides
can set the stage for effective communication.
Establishing an open, transparent, direct,
and welcoming environment early on
can help everyone navigate future conversations
no matter how tricky.
It also builds a culture of collaborative problem solving.
As a project manager, you might feel
like you have to solve all the hard issues yourself,
but creating a team approach
can lift some of that weight right off your shoulders.
While a SWOT analysis can be a useful planning tool
in project management, other tools are too.
So when does it make sense
to leave this tool in the toolbox?
Here are a few reasons a SWOT analysis
might not be a productive use of your time.
Sometimes a client limits your access to their team,
leaving you with only one to two people
to talk to on the client side.
If you can't pull a diverse group
of stakeholders together from both sides,
it's unlikely you'll be able to build a comprehensive
and effective SWOT matrix.
The reality is you won't have an open
and transparent relationship with every client.
It might be because they're new
or have a different culture of communication
in their organization, or maybe your sales team
committed to a project they shouldn't have.
Whatever the reason, if you or your client
can't be transparent about weaknesses and threats,
your SWOT analysis won't be very useful.
If your budget is small,
you likely have limited resources to complete the project,
and that includes your own time as a project manager.
While conducting a SWOT analysis workshop
is a relatively quick task,
it's not gonna be effective unless you spend time creating
and executing an action plan afterwards.
If you can't reasonably take action on what you may uncover,
go ahead and skip the SWOT analysis.
If you've worked with a client several times before
and don't appear to be solving a new or hard problem
or approaching a new product or revenue stream,
there's no need to go through the motions of SWOT exercise.
Are you managing a project with money goals
and a scope that's constantly changing,
even though somehow a contract got signed?
If so, it's best to put all your energy into workshops
and tools to focus on clearly defining what you're doing.
In my experience, projects like these
just lead to vague SWOTs anyway.
And that's it for this introductory video
on a SWOT analysis.
I hope you found it helpful.
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Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.