When you have collected and noted features in the four categories (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), you are ready to move on to the next step, which is selecting important features. Let’s take another look at the whole process.
ANALYSIS: Think about and identify features, then group them into four categories: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (you can read more about it below).
SELECTION: Select the most valuable and important features from each category (read more).
EVALUATION: Prioritize features by assigning an importance factor to each of them (read more).
CONNECTION: Identify an existing relationships between the categories to identify the impact of each feature on your final strategy (read more).
STRATEGY: At the end of the process you will receive full summary of pertinent data, as well as a recommended strategy for your current situation and suggestions for future actions (read more).
SWOT is one of the easiest and most effective methods of analysis. It can be applied both to business processes (such as determining market positions or validating new product ideas) or personal decisions (such the progress of career).
The acronym SWOT stands for:
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Opportunities | Threats |
The development of SWOT is credited to Albert Humphrey, who tested the approach in the 1960s and 1970s at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Developed for business and based on data from Fortune 500 companies, the SWOT analytical process has been adopted by organizations of all types as an aid to making decisions.