SSWWOOTT

All of us make SWOT presentations and there are some points which can be put into either Strength or Weakness and similarly as Opportunity or Threat based on with whom we would like to share the analysis and the context. Sometimes we tend to put the same thing into both the quadrants with different language.

Some examples are: an organization can be called flexible (strength) or not well structured (weakness); similarly disciplined or too rigid; bureaucracy or process oriented;  

Actually it would be in the middle somewhere of these two extremes in most of the situations….shades of gray.  My approach is to have 2x3 matrix instead of conventional 2x2 matrix with the center column having the points which fall into “Strength-Weakness” and “Opportunity-Threat”. I will not put them into either strength or weakness; similarly not into either opportunity or threat.  Let’s call it SSWWOOTT instead of SWOT. This may help to assess more objectively.