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How to Make Better Decisions with a SWOT Analysis by Mind Map

What is a SWOT Analysis?

When you start a new project or make a major business change you need a good view of the situation so you can make the best possible decisions. Using the SWOT analysis technique can help you get the information you need in a rigorous, structured manner. It is one one of the classic tools of the business analyst.

Using a Mind Map to carry out the analysis makes the task easier and allows you to be more productive, and might even be enjoyable.

The object of SWOT analysis is to examine 4 areas critical to the success of any business venture:

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats

By focussing on these areas you can ensure your business:

  • Makes the most of your strengths
  • Minimises your weaknesses
  • Takes advantage of any opportunities
  • Considers possible threats

A Very Brief History

The basic SWOT analysis process was created in the 1960s at the Stanford Research Institute by an American business and management consultant called Albert Humphrey. He produced a team method called ‘SOFT’. This was later developed into what we now know as SWOT analysis.

How SWOT Analysis Works

The method works by focussing on the internal and external factors that may affect the situation.

  • Internal factors are features of the organisation
  • External factors are features of the environment

The method considers both the helpful/positive and harmful/negative factors.

  • Strengths and Weaknesses are Internal factors
  • Opportunities and Threats are External factors

SWOT Boxes Diagram

Asking the Right Questions

It is important you ask the right questions in each section of the SWOT analysis to ensure useful information is collected. The set of questions you need to consider will vary with each analysis.

I have included some examples of the type of questions you may find useful.

Strengths

  • What are we good at and how does this affect the situation?
  • What are we known for?
  • What is our Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
  • What do our customers like about our business?
  • What skill/experience/technical/financial resources do we have?
  • What connections and networks can help?

Weaknesses

  • What are we bad at and how does this affect the situation?
  • What are our competitors doing better than us?
  • What do our customers dislike about our business?
  • Do we lack any skill/experience/technical/financial resources?
  • Do we lack any connections or accreditation we may need?

Opportunities

  • Are there any changes happening in the industry we could use?
  • Are there training opportunities?
  • If there is a competitor, are there weaknesses we can use?
  • Is there any new technology we can use?
  • Does this expand our market?
  • How will this benefit our current customers?

Threats

  • What risks and obstacles do we face in moving forward?
  • What are our competitors doing and how might that affect the situation?
  • Could any changes in guidance or legislation affect the situation?
  • Could any technical changes affect the situation?
  • Could any industry changes affect the situation?
  • Could any business changes internally or at our clients affect the situation?

SWOT Analysis and Mind Maps

The traditional way of carrying out a SWOT analysis is to produce a set of 4 lists. This produces a static and uninspiring set of data.

By using a mind map you can bring the information to life and use the structure to generate ideas, organise and prioritise the data.

SWOT Analysis Mind MapSWOT Analysis Mind Map

Mind Map Structure

Create a simple Mind Map with 4 branches – one for each section of the SWOT Analysis.

Add branches for the various factors. You can concentrate one branch at a time or move around the mind map as you think of various factors. For example, when thinking about people you may add branches to Strengths (for relevant skills) and Opportunities (to provide training). With a mind map, it is easy to add items and move them around as necessary.

You can create a template mind map with example factors already added. You can use this to structure the questions and items you explore. In the example below I have based the mind map on the questions noted in this post. Note that in a traditional mind map there is only 1 word per branch.

Strengths BranchStrengths Branch

Generating Ideas

Once you have a basic structure you can begin to generate ideas and information using the structure. For each branch, you can generate examples. In the example, I have expanded the list of things we are good at.

You can also generate ideas by being less specific. If you add an item then you can ask ‘what kind of thing’ it is (for example people, or infrastructure) and then add any other items in that category. So if you have added ‘VOIP’ capability then you may add other infrastructure items for video conferencing or webinar hosting.

Strengths Generating IdeasStrengths Generating Ideas

Organising

You can move branches around and rearrange their order. You can move items together by category and even place a  ‘cloud’ around them to separate them and make them stand out.

Strengths OrganisingStrengths Organising

Prioritising and Linking

If you have many items then you can use icons to prioritise them. You can use filters that show only high priority items.

You can also link items to show how they are related.

Strengths with Priority and LinksStrengths with Priority and Links

Adding Icons, Pictures and Notes

As well as adding priorities, you can also add other icons to the branches. In the example, I have added icons to the main branches to give a visual cue to the theme of each branch. Adding icons in this way can stimulate your thinking and creativity.

Most mind mapping software will also allow you to add floating pictures and notes. This lets you include extra information not necessarily tied to a particular branch.

Strengths6Strengths6

Using the Mind Map

You can use the mind map in many different ways:

  • As a focus for discussions
  • As a meeting agenda
  • As the structure for documents
  • As a task list for further investigations and analysis

A SWOT analysis in a mind map provides a wealth of information in a concise and visually engaging format.

The information can easily be filtered, organised and output for a variety of purposes.

The mind map process brings a classic business analysis tool up to date for use in today’s fast-moving and data-rich environment.

(The mind map was produced using ‘Freeplane’. Freeplane is a free, open-source software application for creating mind maps, and electronic outlines.)

ToLoPoSoGo – A Useful Tool for Business Analysts

Tools and Toolkits

One of the jobs of a business analyst (BA) is to supply their client with useful information. Information that allows the client to achieve their goals. BAs do this using a combination of knowledge, experience and a ‘personal toolkit’. This ‘toolkit’ is built up through their experience and training. There are formal tools of the trade such as specific documentation methods like UML or business processes like PRINCE2. There are also informal tools that are ways of thinking about tasks that support the BA and the client in reaching their objectives.

Here are some examples of informal tool types:

  • General: thinking structures, ToLoPoSoGo, 6 Hats method…
  • Objectives: prioritisation methods, output definitions, understanding other people’s viewpoints…
  • Organisation: lists, mindmaps, ways of sorting and prioritising, brainstorming…
  • Information gathering: more lists, data gathering methods, question techniques, checklists, PESTLE analysis…
  • Creativity: random word, provocation, lateral thinking…
  • Decision making: networks, trees, priorities, RED model, SWOT analysis…
  • Etc…

Those are just a sample of the tools that are available. A well-travelled BA will know what to do and what to deliver based on what they have done before. The ability to be able to consciously choose the right tools for a job can make a BA much more effective. The rest of this document discusses a good general tool for a BA toolkit. It can be applied to most thinking tasks and can produce very worthwhile results.

The ‘ToLoPoSoGo’ Thinking Framework

‘ToLoPoSoGo’ is a 5 stage framework developed by Edward DeBono. It provides a general structure for approaching business tasks, problems and issues. As well as being a useful standard tool, you can also use it where it may not immediately be obvious how to proceed.

Each of the stages has a 2 letter mnemonic to make the process easy to remember and apply.

ToLoPoSoGo ImageToLoPoSoGo Image

You can see the diagram is drawn as a set of boxes in an ‘L’ shape.

  • The vertical boxes ‘To’, ‘Lo’, and ‘Po’ are about gathering information.
  • The horizontal boxes ‘So’ and ‘Go’ are about making decisions and taking action.

The purpose of the framework is to help ensure that the thinking is useful and supports action and movement.

We will now look at each stage.

1) To – Where do we want to get to?

This stage of the process is about knowing what we want from the thinking. What is the goal? For example, do we want:

  • A solution to a problem
  • A set of options
  • A document stating the risks for the project
  • A business case for a change to a system

Priorities

In order to decide the objective we may need to think about priorities:

  • How should we prioritise the issue?
  • Would anyone else’s priorities differ from ours and should we take that into account
  • Is there something else I should put in front of this?
  • Is there some part of the problem I should address first?
  • Should I break the problem up?

Outputs

It is important that there is a specific output from the thinking. That we have a result at the end.  For example, what should the outcome of the thinking be?

  • An action plan
  • A discussion document
  • A simple list of things to discuss
  • An agenda for a meeting
  • An official project document

Examples are:

‘The purpose of our thinking is to decide on an approach to changing the ticket format. The output is an action plan for starting the change process.’

‘The purpose of our thinking is to arrive at an initial risk list for the project. The output is a risk analysis document that we will circulate and use as an agenda for part of the project meeting.’

2) Lo – What do we need to look at?

In this part of the process, we collect the information we need to consider as part of our thinking. We are getting a better ‘map’ of where we are and what we need to know.

Information Gathering

  • What factors do we need to consider? (For example, think about the PESTLE analysis categories: P for Political, E for Economic, S for Social, T for Technological, L for Legal and E for Environmental.)
  • What do we know?
  • What do we not know?
  • Who else is involved?
  • What is the context? Is it a project task, an emergency, a meeting preparation, a procedural matter?

This information is usually collected as a set of lists. We can use a mindmap to organise and update the lists as we go along. A mindmap makes it very easy to jump around our set of information and review it.

3) Po – What are the possibilities?

Here we examine the possible alternatives, directions, options and solutions.

  • Are there alternatives to the current process?
  • How is it done elsewhere?
  • Is there an alternative technology, application, piece of software?
  • Are there similar processes we could learn from?

We can use any creative technique such as random words, lateral thinking, changing perspective etc.

The output of this part of the process is a set of possibilities that we can analyse to decide what we should do.

4) So – So what are we going to do?

At this stage, we decide what we need to do to achieve our objective.

We may create our output if we have enough information.
We may need to evaluate and make some decisions.
We may need to review our options
We may decide that more thought or information is required.

Again, we can use thinking tools to help with this stage of the process:

  • SWOT analysis (S for Strengths, W for Weaknesses, O for Opportunities, T for Threats)
  • Prioritisation
  • Evaluating other people views of the options
  • Evaluating the consequences of the options
  • Scoring the options

Once this stage is complete then we know what we have achieved from the thinking and what the thinking will deliver.

5) Go – Go and do it

At this stage, we produce our output from the thinking process. We take action.

We have already collected relevant information, analysed it, produced the options and evaluated them to decide how to proceed.

We document our results in whatever format is appropriate and proceed to use the result of the thinking exercise.

The important point is that there is a tangible result from the thinking. We have a better view of the situation.

Time Well Spent

This tool enables a BA to approach thinking tasks in a way that ensures that their time is well spent. There is an output that the client can see and use. You can apply the structure when you are not sure how to proceed. As we have said, the minimum you will get is a better view of the situation, ‘a better map’.