The SWOT workflow takes an analysis from raw entries all the way through to action. Bayou & Co. runs a 90-minute SWOT session at the start of each planning cycle: one hour to load and refine entries, 20 minutes to score countermeasures, and 10 minutes to promote the best ideas into execution. What used to end as a wall chart now ends with assigned work.
Before you start
- The Strategy module must be enabled (Settings → Modules → Strategy).
- You need admin or owner role to add and manage entries and countermeasures. Members can view.
- The Execution module must be enabled to promote items to ideas.
Navigate to Strategy → SWOT in the sidebar.
Step 1: Capture entries
Click Strategy → SWOT → Entries. The page shows four quadrants: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
Click Add item at the bottom of any quadrant. A text field opens inline. Type the entry — be specific enough that someone can act on it. "Direct distributor relationships in 3 regions" is useful; "good network" is not. Press Enter or click Add to save. Press Escape to cancel.
Repeat for each entry across all four quadrants. Drag the grip handle to reorder items within a quadrant, or drag across quadrants to reclassify an item.
Step 2: Add countermeasures
Countermeasures are concrete actions that respond to one or more SWOT entries. Open any entry by clicking its text to open the detail panel, then click Add countermeasure.
For each countermeasure fill in:
- Description — what the action is, stated as a team-executable task.
- Impact — a 1–5 score for how much this countermeasure moves the needle.
- Ease — a 1–5 score for how feasible this is given current capacity.
Click Save. The countermeasure appears in the list below the entry. One entry can have multiple countermeasures; one countermeasure can be linked to multiple entries.
Diego at Northwoods Outfitters adds both the impact and ease scores immediately — the PICK chart is useless without them.
Step 3: View the PICK chart
Click Strategy → SWOT → PICK in the sidebar. The page plots all scored countermeasures on a 2×2 grid:
| Low ease | High ease | |
|---|---|---|
| High impact | Challenge | Implement |
| Low impact | Kill | Possible |
Items in the Implement quadrant offer the most value for the effort. Items in Challenge are worth doing but need dedicated capacity planning. Items in Possible are quick wins but lower leverage. Items in Kill should be deprioritized unless circumstances change.
Filter by SWOT quadrant using the toggle at the top to focus on Opportunities vs. Threats countermeasures separately.
Step 4: Promote an Implement-quadrant item to an execution idea
Hover over any item in the Implement quadrant. Click Promote to idea. A dialog opens pre-filled with the countermeasure description as the idea title.
Confirm or edit the title, then click Promote. The idea is created in the Execution module's idea queue. The countermeasure card shows an Idea badge linking back to the promoted idea.
The entry itself remains in the SWOT — the promotion is additive, not destructive.
Step 5: Monitor the promoted idea
The promoted idea lives in Execution → Ideas. It goes through the normal idea scoring and project promotion flow from there. See How to take an idea from submission to quarterly priority for the full flow.
Step 6: Archive entries after the work closes
When a SWOT entry is no longer active — the threat passed, the opportunity was captured, the weakness was addressed — click the entry to open its detail panel and click Archive.
Archived entries move to Strategy → SWOT → Archive and are hidden from the main quadrant view. They are not deleted; you can review the archive to understand historical context during future planning cycles.
Countermeasures and promoted ideas are not affected by archiving the parent entry.
What comes next
- Prioritize the promoted ideas into projects: How to create your first project
- Connect the work to quarterly commitments: How to set a quarterly priority
- Review the base SWOT grid: How to run a SWOT analysis