What is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT examines a project or decision from four angles: internal Strengths and Weaknesses, external Opportunities and Threats. In risk identification it deliberately hunts both directions — negative risks (from weaknesses and threats) and positive ones (from strengths and opportunities).
Its quiet value is symmetry: most teams find threats easily and opportunities never. The grid forces the question "what could go unusually right, and how would we exploit it?"
Worked example
A software agency SWOTs a fixed-price bid: strength — deep experience with this exact stack; weakness — no spare senior capacity; opportunity — the client is consolidating vendors, so excellent delivery could triple the account; threat — a competitor undercutting on price. The bid decision (and its risk register) writes itself from the grid.