IT Management Reference Guide

This article presents information on how to use the brainstorming technique known as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) Analysis. Four different procedures will be used In order to obtain and organize the maximum amount of information in the least amount of time, I use four different procedures during the course of a SWOT Analysis. These four procedures are:

• Round Robin Method to identify items;
• Author/Group Consensus Scheme to merge items;
• Nominal Group Technique to prioritize items;
• Common Threads Approach to categorize items.

Some of you may be familiar with one or more of these procedures, just as some of you may be familiar with the SWOT process in general. For those of you who may not be familiar with SWOT, or any of these four procedures, I will provide a brief description of each of these entities.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is a process to identify the relative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, of a person, a small team, a large organization, an initiative, or a process, normally in a business environment. When conducted in association with various brainstorming procedures, it can offer very meaningful results in just a short amount of time.

During the past two years I conducted nearly a dozen SWOT sessions for a variety of clients, and incorporated small improvements most every time I facilitated such an event. Some of the topics we worked on included a SWOT for a security program, for business continuity, for financial branch openings, for configuration, for offshore programming and for a new company start-up.

Here are a few tips to consider before proceeding with your SWOT. First, select a qualified facilitator to conduct the session. The person should be skilled at controlling the pace and focus of the brainstorming. This is especially important for the round robin portion of the session. Second, narrow your focus to a very specific objective. The more generic your focus, the less effective your session will be. Finally, understand and use the following four procedures. In my experience, the use of these measures greatly enhances the effectiveness of the SWOT Analysis.

Round Robin Method To Identify Items

Round robin is a fast-paced method to quickly identify items during a brainstorming session. When the process is used properly, there is virtually no lost time in gathering meaningful information. The two keys to its success are brevity and hand-offs. Participants sitting around a table are each given a choice to briefly offer a response or to hand off to the next person. Each response is recorded. Typically, only 10-15 seconds are spent on each individual so short quick responses are a necessity. Hand-offs are very common, especially during the first few rounds. Rounds continue until two full passes are made with no new responses. You do not need to offer a response during each round, or only two or three total responses from each person is expected for each category of SWOT.

Participants of SWOTs sometime struggle with differentiating between strengths & opportunities, and between weaknesses & threats. Figure 1 points out some of the key differences between these two groups of responses. These differences should be explained, discussed and re-emphasized for each of the four categories of a SWOT.

Figure 1. Comparison of SWOT Characteristics

Offering some sample qualifiers, such as those shown in Figure 2, before the start of each round of brainstorming tend to stimulate brevity and consistency among responses. This in turn facilitates recording of the responses on flip charts. If your group is larger than 10, I suggest having two scribes alternately recording the responses.

Figure 2. SWOT Sample Worksheet

Author/Group Consensus Scheme To Merge Items

Some responses may turn out to be similar to ones previously mentioned. At the end of each round – for example after all strengths have been identified – all responses for that round should be briefly reviewed for possible merging. I have found that recording the initials of the person offering the response enables the parties involved to come to a consensus as to whether or not a merger is warranted. I refer to this process as the author/group consensus scheme. It looks at those responses that may be merged and negotiates with the author of the response and the group to gain consensus on it.

Nominal Group Technique To Prioritize Items

The nominal group technique (NGT) effectively prioritizes large lists of items in a short time by having each individual apply a point value to just a few of their top choices. What may normally take hours to accomplish with other methods can be done in 10-15 minutes with NGT. The 'Brainstorming Requirements' section of the Process Management portion of this Reference Guide explains the use of this technique in detail. Figure 3 offers a worksheet for use with this method.

Figure 3. SWOT Voting Worksheet

Common Threads Approach To Categorize Items

Once the items have been identified, merged, and prioritized, they can be grouped into major categories according to common threads that stand out from the prioritized lists. This categorizing may occur after the SWOT brainstorming session, and during the analysis of the results and the review of the findings.

The actual analysis consists of inspecting the prioritized list within each category and looking for major groupings. This can lend insight as to not only which response carried the most weight, but by how much they were ahead of the pack. Next, by reviewing the prioritized lists across all four categories, you may be able to spot trends and relationships across the different areas. For example, in one of my recent SWOTs, a distinct distrust of one the support groups became very apparent by making such an analysis.

Upon completion of the final analysis, the completed report should be reviewed with the participates for feedback, discussion and follow-up. This is a good opportunity to ask for feedback on the process itself. It can be surprising how many good suggestion the participants can have to improve the SWOT once they have gone through it once.