Method guide · Arrange people and ideas
Strategy Experiment Knot
Connect small, reversible experiments and choose the first one to try, with stopping conditions and a learning cycle.
- People
- 6–40
- Base procedure time
- 90 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Make a decision.
English guide
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How this method works
A method for mapping connections between small experiments and choosing one to try first. Use it where attempts to address a complex challenge are scattered. Check the purpose, current situation, surrounding conditions, and challenges, then make cards for small experiments that can be reversed. Connect experiments with lines showing whether one requires an earlier result, competes for the same resources, or strengthens another's effects. Do not speak for absent perspectives or put sensitive information on the shared surface. The result is a first experiment, stopping conditions, items to observe, a responsible person, and a review date. This description is a substantial original adaptation of the current 2026 Liberating Structures method into a 90-minute version under CC BY-SA 4.0. Do not run it to make immediate crisis-response, legal, safety, medical, personnel, or budget decisions.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
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- Locate the complex challenge and decision limits0–10 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Locate. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Take stock of existing attempts and surrounding conditions10–25 minutes from the start (15 minutes)
Action: Inventory. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Design small, reversible experiments25–45 minutes from the start (20 minutes)
Action: Design. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Connect dependencies and interactions between experiments45–65 minutes from the start (20 minutes)
Action: Connect. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Set the priority connection and learning cycle together65–90 minutes from the start (25 minutes)
Action: Integrate. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 10 minutes, confirm the complex challenge, shared purpose, authority and specialist matters that will not be decided here, and absent perspectives.
- For 15 minutes, separate existing attempts, surrounding conditions, and challenges onto cards, distinguishing confirmed information from hypotheses.
- For 20 minutes, propose small experiments aligned with the purpose. Write their scope, first step, way to reverse them, stopping conditions, and observation indicators.
- For 20 minutes, connect dependencies, competition, and mutual reinforcement between experiments. Mark connections without evidence as hypotheses.
- For 15 minutes, choose one experiment to try first and record the authority and specialist confirmation needed before it begins, together with who is responsible.
- For 10 minutes, record when to observe each experiment, the review cycle, and when to decide whether to continue, change, or stop.
If something changes
If
A priority experiment is selected while even one affected perspective is absent.
Then
Do not adopt it. Return it to hypothesis status, do not speak for the absent perspective, and record a way to check with the person's consent and a deadline.
If
At least one experiment proposal contains a personal name, customer case, health information, harm experienced, or confidential information.
Then
Remove it from the shared surface and rewrite it using roles and anonymised conditions. Separate information that cannot be rewritten into a restricted record.
If
At least one proposal requires legal, safety, medical, personnel, or budget authority, or lacks stopping conditions and observation indicators.
Then
Do not make it the priority connection. Put it on hold and record the formal authority, specialist to consult, and confirmation deadline.
Preparation
Materials
- One self-made blank sheet per group, with separate areas for purpose, current situation, surrounding conditions, challenges, experiments, and observation
- 10 existing-attempt cards per group
- 10 cards of each type per group: small experiments, dependencies, stopping conditions, and observation indicators
- 6 cards of each type per group: absent perspectives, authority needed, and specialist confirmation needed
- One set of choice cards per person: writing, dictating, drawing, and passing
- One thick pen per person
Room and setup
- Put a self-made blank sheet at each group of 3–5. Prepare a surface that allows people to move back and forth between purpose, current situation, surrounding conditions, challenges, experiments, and observation and revise them.
- Do not speak for absent perspectives. Offer writing, dictation, drawing, having text read aloud, and passing. Do not put personal cases or confidential information on the shared surface.
- Explain that this 90-minute version forms hypotheses for local experiments, not a complete strategy. Refer legal, safety, medical, personnel, and budget decisions for formal confirmation.
Adjust for people and time
With 6–10 people, form 2 groups of 3–5. With 11–40, divide the participant count by 5 and round up to find the number of groups. Distribute people so group sizes differ by no more than 1, with 3–5 in each group, and develop a set of experiments in each group. Bring back to everyone only experiment names, dependencies, and observation indicators. Do not merge statements made on absent people's behalf or sensitive information. With 41 or more people, use separate sessions.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Treat this 90-minute version as hypothesis-building for local experiments, not complete strategy or immediate crisis, legal, safety, medical, personnel, or budget decisions. Do not speak for absent people or expose personal, customer, health, harm-related, or confidential information. Offer writing, dictation, drawing, having text read aloud, and passing. Hold proposals needing formal authority or specialist confirmation, or lacking stopping conditions and observation indicators. Confirm affected perspectives with consent before adopting a priority experiment.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Liberating Structures: Five Structural Elements; Steps and Time Allocation
https://www.liberatingstructures.com/strategy-knotworking
Adaptation under CC-BY-SA-4.0; changes made
- Conditions of CC-BY-SA-4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Current-page licence notice
This explanation is an adaptation for Taiwa no Fumen based on the official Liberating Structures page linked below. The manuscript's recorded references are listed separately from the web page checked on 17 October 2026.
Changes: the Japanese explanation and facilitation plan have been edited for Taiwa no Fumen. The English edition translates that Japanese manuscript; it is not a verbatim translation of the official page.
The LS-adapted text on this page, including this site's editorial and translation contributions, is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. When reusing it, credit the creators, identify the source and licence, indicate changes, and follow the licence's ShareAlike terms when sharing adaptations.
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Credits on the checked source page
- Developed by: Keith McCandless, Johannes Schartau, Fisher Qua, Nancy White
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Strategy Knotworking (SKW).
Source lineage
- Original repertoire (2013): Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
- 2026 Fieldbook: Keith McCandless, Nancy White
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
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Editorial provenance
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