SWOT analysis originated in the 1960s-1970s when Albert Humphrey at Stanford University developed his research on organizational planning. Humphrey devised the SWOT analysis technique to create a soft analysis for planning. A SWOT analysis involves identifying a business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is useful for summarizing and clarifying the key issues facing a business or project. However, for a SWOT to be truly effective, it must go beyond a simple list and consider the relative strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors, as well as the size of opportunities and threats.