SWOT Analyzer

Overview

This skill builds a high-quality SWOT analysis and — critically — does not stop at four lists. It drives the analysis through to decisions and actions using the TOWS matrix (pairing internal factors with external factors to generate strategies).

Keywords: SWOT, TOWS, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, strategic planning, competitive analysis, situation analysis, go/no-go, market entry, business strategy.

Use this skill whenever the user wants to evaluate a situation, position, or decision and translate that evaluation into a plan.

Core principle: Strengths and Weaknesses are INTERNAL and present-tense (under the subject's control: people, capabilities, IP, costs, brand). Opportunities and Threats are EXTERNAL and future-leaning (outside control: market, competitors, regulation, technology, economy). Mixing these up is the single most common SWOT failure.

Workflow

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip the scoping or the TOWS step.

1. Scope the subject. Confirm WHO/WHAT is being analyzed (company, product, team, initiative, person) and the DECISION or GOAL it serves (e.g., "decide whether to enter the EU market"). A SWOT with no decision attached is just a list. If the user did not state a goal, ask one short clarifying question or state an assumed goal explicitly.
2. Gather evidence. Pull facts: financials, market data, customer feedback, competitor moves, internal capabilities. Prefer specific, evidenced claims over vague adjectives. If information is missing, mark it as an assumption.
3. Populate the four quadrants. For each quadrant, generate factors using the prompts in references/prompts.md. Apply the internal/external and present/future tests. Aim for 4-8 high-signal items per quadrant, not 20 weak ones.
4. Make each factor concrete. Quantify where possible ("churn at 7% monthly", not "retention issues"). Attribute strengths/weaknesses to a cause. Tie opportunities/threats to a trend with a rough magnitude and time horizon.
5. Prioritize within each quadrant. Score each factor on Impact (1-5) and Confidence/Likelihood (1-5). Rank by Impact x Confidence. Keep the top items prominent.
6. Run the TOWS cross-matrix. This is where strategy emerges. Pair quadrants to produce four strategy types (see Decision Framework below and references/tows-matrix.md).
7. Convert to actions. Turn the top strategies into concrete, owned, time-bound actions. Each action: what, why (which SWOT pairing), owner, horizon (now / 90 days / 12 months), and a success metric.
8. Summarize the strategic posture. State whether the overall position favors aggressive growth, defensive consolidation, turnaround, or careful selectivity, based on where the weight sits across quadrants.
9. Deliver using templates/swot-report.md. Optionally run scripts/swot_score.py to compute priority rankings and a posture indicator from a simple JSON input.

Decision Framework — TOWS Cross-Matrix

The TOWS matrix is the engine that turns analysis into strategy. Pair internal with external:

Generate at least one strategy per cell when the factors support it. The strongest strategies usually come from S+O (offense) and W+T (the existential risks).

Posture heuristic

• Weight concentrated in S and O → Aggressive growth posture.
• Weight in S and T → Defensive posture; protect the core.
• Weight in W and O → Turnaround / build posture; invest to qualify.
• Weight in W and T → Defensive / survival posture; cut risk, consider exit.

Quality Checklist

Before delivering, verify against references/checklist.md. Highlights:

• Every S/W is internal and present; every O/T is external and trend-based.
• No factor is a vague adjective ("good team") — each is specific and, where possible, quantified.
• Opportunities are not just "do good things"; they are external openings the subject could exploit.
• Threats are not internal weaknesses in disguise.
• The TOWS matrix produced real strategies, and the top strategies became dated, owned actions with metrics.
• The output ends with a clear recommended posture and the single most important next move.

Best Practices

• Anchor to a decision. Always state the goal the SWOT serves. The same subject yields a different SWOT for "raise funding" vs. "cut costs".
• Few strong items beat many weak ones. Cap each quadrant at ~8 and rank.
• Quantify relentlessly. Numbers turn opinions into evidence.
• Separate fact from assumption. Tag unknowns; they often become the first research actions.
• Make opportunities and threats symmetric. A trend is usually both an opportunity (for the prepared) and a threat (for the unprepared) — note both sides.
• Finish with TOWS. A SWOT that stops at four lists has done half the job.

Common Pitfalls

• Quadrant confusion: putting a weakness ("we lack a mobile app") into Threats, or an external trend into Strengths. Apply the internal/external test every time.
• Laundry lists: 20 unranked items with no impact assessment. Prioritize.
• Vagueness: "strong brand", "good people" — meaningless without evidence.
• Opportunities = wishes: "grow revenue" is a goal, not an external opportunity. The opportunity is the external change (e.g., "incumbent exiting the SMB segment").
• No follow-through: four lists and no strategy or actions.
• Static snapshot: ignoring time horizons. Tag O/T with when they bite.

Supporting Files

• references/prompts.md — generative prompts per quadrant to surface non-obvious factors.
• references/tows-matrix.md — deep guide to the TOWS cross-matrix with worked strategy examples.
• references/checklist.md — the full pre-delivery quality checklist.
• templates/swot-report.md — the deliverable template (SWOT grid + TOWS + action plan).
• examples/saas-startup.md — a complete worked example end to end.
• scripts/swot_score.py — stdlib Python tool that ranks factors and computes strategic posture from JSON.