RCOS Stress Tests
Real situations where communities broke, written up as test cases. Each one asks: if this happened to us, would our structure hold, or would we have to improvise?
How to use this
- 1
Find the ones close to home
Browse by layer below, or take the self-assessment to see which tests match the warning signs you recognize.
Take the self-assessment - 2
Talk one through
Read a test as a group. The facilitation guide turns any test into a 60–90 minute session that ends with a concrete next step.
Open the facilitation guide - 3
Close the gap
If a test shows something you've never decided, it links to the templates where you can write the answer down.
Layer 0 · Identity & Scope 5 stress tests
- High severityCommons Privatization through Land Sales When selling the land to members quietly makes the community impossible to leave fairly. Also involves
- High severityUnprotected Core Invariants When the founding promises can be undone by a single ordinary vote. Also involves
- Medium severityCultural Norm Violation Scope Test When an unwritten norm gets punished as if it were a written rule. Also involves
- Medium severityGovernance Creep into Private Life When the community has no declared private sphere, so it governs everything. Also involves
- Medium severityMission Drift Through Competing Purposes When the community tries to be everything and can no longer prioritize anything.
Layer 1 · Membership System 3 stress tests
- High severityExpulsion Without Due Process When a member can be pushed out with no process, no appeal, and no record. Also involves
- High severityRapid Growth without Onboarding When the community grows faster than it can integrate anyone. Also involves
- High severitySelf-Sufficiency Without Collective Contribution When everyone enjoys the commons but almost no one maintains it. Also involves
Layer 2 · Governance & Decision Logic 6 stress tests
- High severityCharismatic Spiritual Authority When reverence for a person quietly becomes their right to decide. Also involves
- High severityDominant Speakers in Decision Spaces When the loudest voice, not the agreed process, decides. Also involves
- High severityEmergency Rule Bypass Precedent When a temporary crisis exception quietly becomes the permanent rule. Also involves
- High severityFounder Informal Veto When the founder's quiet no still rules, even though nothing on paper grants it. Also involves
- High severityInformal Clique Decision Making When the real decisions happen before the meeting, among the same few people. Also involves
- Medium severityUndefined Decision Type When the group argues about what to decide before agreeing how to decide it.
Layer 3 · Economic & Resource System 3 stress tests
- High severityInvisible Care Labor Burnout When the community runs on the unpaid care of a quietly exhausted few. Also involves
- High severityOpaque Community Finances When only a few people actually know where the money goes.
- Medium severityOutsourced Labor Bypassing Contribution When money quietly buys a way out of community life. Also involves
Layer 4 · Conflict, Repair & Accountability 2 stress tests
Layer 5 · Operations & Coordination 2 stress tests
Layer 6 · Evolution & Adaptation 3 stress tests
- Medium severityInstitutional Amnesia When the community keeps relearning the same lessons the hard way. Also involves
- Medium severityIrreversible Experiments When "let's just try it" has no way back if it fails.
- Medium severityOssified Governance Without a Path to Change When nothing can change, so change happens by leaving instead.
Invariant Coverage
28 of 28 invariants covered
Every RCOS invariant, and the stress tests that currently exercise it.
Identity & Scope
- INV-0.1 Single primary purpose Mission Drift Through Competing Purposes
- INV-0.2 Explicit governed scope Commons Privatization through Land SalesCultural Norm Violation Scope TestGovernance Creep into Private LifeMission Drift Through Competing Purposes
- INV-0.3 Declared non-governed space Governance Creep into Private Life
- INV-0.4 Protected invariants Unprotected Core Invariants
Membership System
- INV-1.1 No implicit membership Cultural Norm Violation Scope TestInformal Clique Decision MakingRapid Growth without Onboarding
- INV-1.2 Entry and exit are always possible Commons Privatization through Land SalesExpulsion Without Due Process
- INV-1.3 Rights and obligations symmetry Outsourced Labor Bypassing ContributionSelf-Sufficiency Without Collective Contribution
- INV-1.4 Due process for forced exit Expulsion Without Due Process
Governance & Decision Logic
- INV-2.1 Decision type precedes decision content Undefined Decision Type
- INV-2.2 Authority must be explicit Charismatic Spiritual AuthorityDominant Speakers in Decision SpacesFounder Informal VetoUndefined Decision Type
- INV-2.3 Constitutional rules outrank all others Emergency Rule Bypass PrecedentFounder Informal Veto
- INV-2.4 Decisions are reviewable Informal Clique Decision Making
Economic & Resource System
- INV-3.1 Economic transparency by default Opaque Community Finances
- INV-3.2 Commons protection Commons Privatization through Land Sales
- INV-3.3 Contribution recognition is explicit Invisible Care Labor BurnoutOutsourced Labor Bypassing ContributionSelf-Sufficiency Without Collective Contribution
- INV-3.4 No unbounded accumulation of internal power Invisible Power via ResponsibilitiesOpaque Community Finances
Conflict, Repair & Accountability
- INV-4.1 Conflict is handled, not avoided Conflict Avoidance NormalizationDominant Speakers in Decision SpacesOutsourced Labor Bypassing ContributionPunishment Before Repair
- INV-4.2 Power asymmetry is acknowledged Charismatic Spiritual Authority
- INV-4.3 Repair precedes punishment Expulsion Without Due ProcessPunishment Before Repair
- INV-4.4 Safety overrides participation Cultural Norm Violation Scope Test
Operations & Coordination
- INV-5.1 Roles must be defined Dominant Speakers in Decision SpacesInvisible Power via Responsibilities
- INV-5.2 Operational knowledge is documented Institutional AmnesiaInvisible Power via ResponsibilitiesRapid Growth without OnboardingUndefined Information Access
- INV-5.3 Time and attention are finite resources Invisible Care Labor BurnoutSelf-Sufficiency Without Collective Contribution
- INV-5.4 Information access rules are explicit Undefined Information Access
Evolution & Adaptation
- INV-6.1 Change is possible but constrained Ossified Governance Without a Path to ChangeUnprotected Core Invariants
- INV-6.2 Changes are versioned Emergency Rule Bypass PrecedentOssified Governance Without a Path to Change
- INV-6.3 Experiments are reversible Irreversible Experiments
- INV-6.4 Learning is captured Institutional AmnesiaIrreversible Experiments
About
What a stress test is
A stress test is a failure that communities have actually lived through, written up so you can check your own structure against it. Each one describes what happens, which layers it touches, the warning signs, and what RCOS expects to be in place.
Every test asks one question:
> If this happened to a community using RCOS, would the structure absorb it, or would people have to work around it?
If the structure holds without informal fixes, the test passes. If it doesn't, the test has found a real gap, and a future version of RCOS has to close it. That is how the standard stays honest.
What they can't do
RCOS is about structure, and so are its tests. Their limits are worth stating plainly:
- They make handling explicit; they don't do it for you. A test can say a conflict must go through a defined process. It can't have the hard conversation, or supply the care and goodwill that process needs.
- They don't heal people. Structure can stop harm from being ignored or hidden. It doesn't resolve trauma or rebuild trust; mediation, therapy and time do that.
- They don't create belonging. No protocol makes people want to live together. The tests can protect a good community from slowly eroding, not create one.
- Passing isn't the goal; honesty is. A community can pass every test on paper and still be a hard place to live, or fail several and still thrive. The tests show structural risk, not overall health.
- They describe patterns, not your situation. Each test combines many real cases. Recognizing yourself in one starts a conversation; it isn't a diagnosis.
Add a stress test
The library grows from real experience. If your community has lived through a structural failure that isn't covered here, tell us about it: what happened, which parts of the community it touched, and how it was (or wasn't) resolved.