The four quadrants
Strengths and Weaknesses are internal — things you control, like skills, resources, and processes. Opportunities and Threats are external — market shifts, competitors, trends, and conditions you don't control but can respond to. Keeping internal and external separate is what makes SWOT clarifying rather than just a list.
The real value comes from reading across the quadrants: how can a Strength capture an Opportunity? Which Weakness exposes you to a Threat? Those crossovers are where your strategy actually lives.
When to run a SWOT
SWOT works for a business, a product, a project, a team, or even a personal career decision. Use it at the start of planning to get oriented, before a big decision to pressure-test it, or periodically to check whether your situation has shifted.