Do open relationships work?

Note - I am not in an open relationship.

However, as with anything else in a relationship, communication and consideration are going to be key. Plus you will both need to concern yourselves with disease prevention, reputation management (e. g. if it gets around that you have an open marriage, it might turn out to be something that keeps you from being hired for future jobs - being in an open relationship isn't a protected class in terms of employment discrimination) and the possibility of, no matter what either of you say or try or mean or attempt, that there might be hurt feelings. And those hurt feelings won't necessarily strike at the best or most expected of times, either.

I am not specifically warning you off, but I do advise treading carefully. Even the best of these has got to be a minefield.

I am in an open relationship.
For us its easy. We love each other, communicate well and are not selfish.
Always go at the speed of the slowest person in terms of getting to the happy place for both of you. Try to keep the playing equal so one doesn't get a lot more than the other. Our closest friends know but its not hard to keep quiet.
We at times have friends with benefits that we keep going back to but all of them know how close my girl and I are.
After 6 years together, 4 of them open, we have just got engaged.
We started sometimes with a little jealousy even though we are not generally jealous people but just talked it out and all good.
I have complete trust with my fiancé that I never had with my ex.
We have two rules. Honesty and Respect. We don't have control issues in our relationship. Although we can do what we want, if my fiancé is uncomfortable with what I'm doing, I don't want to do it as I respect her and don't want to hurt her. Its great having the freedom in our relationship but also not have to worry its going to hurt it.