SuperSWOT is a brainstorming tool you can use with your team to focus your strategy. It goes beyond the traditional SWOT by taking your strengths and weaknesses and combining them with opportunities and threats in your market. It comes in very handy after you’ve done enough market research but haven’t figured out exactly what you want to do yet. It can also help validate or invalidate someone’s pet idea. During this conversational session, we’ll build a SuperSWOT together.

1. THINKING INSIDE THE
BOXES
How to use
Super SWOT
to Discover
Solutions
By Charles Hammer,
Senior Product Manager, John Wiley & Sons

2. Defining a SWOT
SWOT
 A method to evaluate a
project or business
venture
 Helps break down
issues into internal and
external factors
 Commonly used
marketing or MBA
method
Drawing based on one by Xhienne, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Xhienne

3. More than SWOT: Super SWOT!
 What’s not super about SWOT?
 SWOT breaks down the problem, but it
doesn’t provide solutions
 Super SWOT allows your team to
collectively:
 Create strategies by combining your
strengths and weaknesses with what’s
happening in the marketplace
 Justify why a strategy fits into the bigger
picture
 Examine and mitigate for risk

4. When to do it

5. Super SWOT

6. Super SWOT Logistics
Before Brainstorm:
 Gather strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from team
 Reserve 1.5 to 2 hours.
 Two hours is better. Provide cookies or take a break halfway through.
Meeting:
 Fill out strategies squares as a group.
 Use sticky sheets on walls
 Involve diverse set of people (tech, business, production, IA)
 Have separate note taker from facilitator
 An experienced facilitator will help greatly
Warnings:
1. Don’t try to do this in less time.
2. “Opportunities” confuses people. They are external trends in
competition, marketplace or in general. They are not strategies.
3. Don’t shortchange crossing weaknesses and threats. That’s where
many risks are hidden.

7. Questions?
charlesrhammer@hotmail.com