Analyzing Open Source Projects with the SWOT Framework

When software developers create new open source projects, often they create what they think is useful and fun to make. This attitude is fine by itself. If the programmer or company has more ambition though, the project can benefit from the SWOT analysis developed by the strategic management literature. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. This article shows how the SWOT analysis can benefit open source projects.

SWOT Analysis

Whenever you want to analyze the position of your product in the marketplace you can use the SWOT analysis framework. Originally developed in 1965 by researchers at the Stanford Research Institute, is has become a popular tool in business for analyzing the product or company and its position inside the market environment.

Figure 1: SWOT diagram. CC-BY SA by Xhienne

As you can see in Figure 1, the SWOT framework analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the product on the one side and the threats and weaknesses of the external market on the right side.

Analyzing your product position in that way, you can get some ideas for your product strategy.

SWOT for Open Source Software

When creating open source software, it is generally a good idea to avoid creating what is already in the market. Also, you would want to invest your energy in a product that matches an opportunity in the market. For example, if your research shows that there are already a lot of open source headless CMSs on the market, why create another one? It should only be done if your product has a strong differentiator (e.g. features that many people need but no competitor offers and is not able to offer easily in the near future).

SWOT analysis should be done before you create a new open source product or when you want to analyze an existing product for future improvement.

Using LLMs to Generate SWOT

Using an LLM like ChatGPT or DeepSeek can offer a quick way to generate a SWOT analysis. Be aware though, that you should also verify and do additional analysis for areas not covered by the LLM response.

For example, you can use this prompt to generate a SWOT analysis for the popular open source CMS Strapi:

Can you generate SWOT analysis for Strapi CMS?

This is the response by ChatGPT:

Strengths
API-First & Headless Architecture:
Strapi is built as a headless CMS, meaning it delivers content via RESTful and GraphQL APIs. This flexible, API-first architecture enables developers to use any frontend framework and integrate with multiple platforms.

High Customizability & Extensibility:
With its robust plugin system and fully open-source nature (MIT-licensed), Strapi can be tailored extensively to meet the unique requirements of various projects and industries.

Modern Technology Stack:
Built on Node.js and leveraging a modern JavaScript ecosystem, Strapi attracts developers looking for a fast, scalable, and developer-friendly solution.

Active Community & Ecosystem:
A growing community and active contributions ensure continuous improvements, a wide range of plugins, and support for new technologies, as well as enterprise usage through Strapi Cloud.

Weaknesses
Maturity & Stability Concerns:
While rapidly evolving, Strapi may lack some enterprise-grade features found in more mature, proprietary CMS platforms. Developers might encounter evolving API changes that require frequent updates to custom integrations.

Learning Curve for Non-Developers:
As a developer-focused, headless CMS, it may present a steeper learning curve for content managers or teams used to traditional, all-in-one CMS solutions.

Limited Out-of-the-Box Frontend:
Unlike traditional CMS platforms that include complete website themes, Strapi leaves frontend development entirely to the developer, which might not suit organizations looking for a turnkey solution.

Dependency on Node.js Ecosystem:
The performance and scalability are tied to the Node.js runtime and ecosystem; organizations heavily invested in other technology stacks may face integration challenges.

Opportunities
Growth of the JAMstack and Omnichannel Content Delivery:
As businesses embrace decoupled architectures and the need for multi-channel content distribution increases, Strapi’s headless model is well-positioned to capture a growing market segment.

Expansion into Enterprise and Industry-Specific Solutions:
There’s potential to develop specialized distributions or starter kits for industries such as e-commerce, media, education, and healthcare, further broadening its adoption.

Strapi Cloud & Managed Services:
The introduction of Strapi’s managed cloud services can attract organizations seeking easy deployment, scalability, and dedicated support while still benefiting from open-source flexibility.

Integration with Modern Frontend Frameworks:
Partnerships or pre-built integrations with popular frameworks (like Next.js, Nuxt.js, or Gatsby) can streamline the development process and attract more developers to the platform.

Threats
Intense Competition:
The headless CMS market is increasingly crowded, with competitors like Contentful, Sanity, Directus, and Payload CMS. These competitors may offer more specialized features or smoother enterprise integration.

Rapid Technology Evolution:
The web development landscape is continuously changing. New tools and frameworks could quickly shift best practices, potentially leaving Strapi needing significant adaptations to stay current.

Enterprise Requirements and Expectations:
Large organizations may require robust compliance, security, and scalability features out-of-the-box. If Strapi does not evolve quickly enough to meet these enterprise demands, it might lose market share.

Reliance on Community Support:
As an open-source project, Strapi's evolution and long-term support heavily depend on an active community and contribution from external developers. Reduced community engagement could impact its growth and innovation pace.

This response can give an initial impression of the SWOT of an open source project. If you are interested in more details, you can follow-up with more questions or do your own research.

Conclusion

In my opinion, it is a good idea to get a basic insight of the market and the product's strengths and weaknesses before you create the open source product and monitor the evolution of the positioning during the product's lifetime. The SWOT analysis can help but should not be the only tool. As Mintzberg stated in his writings, informal information by talking and networking with people is probably even more important.

References

SWOT Analysis on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis

Mintzberg Henry, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Management, 1994, The Free Press

Cover image: Vlado Paunovic on Unsplash