Many cytoskeletal structures remodel themselves on the seconds-to-minutes timescale. For example, the network of microtubules that segregates chromosomes during cell division, known as the spindle, is remarkably dynamic. Notably, spindles can rebuild their architecture when they attain an incorrect shape or when they incorrectly attach to chromosomes. How does the spindle remodel itself? In principle, probing spindle dynamics during local remodelling events can uncover local mechanisms of spindle self-organization. However, locally inducing these remodelling events while measuring spindle dynamics is challenging as it requires the ability to simultaneously perturb and mark the system. Historically, targeted lasers have been used either to damage spindle structures and induce remodelling, such as severing microtubule bundles, or to track microtubule end dynamics by photomarking a microtubule region. Here, I describe a method to probe mechanisms of cytoskeletal network re-organization that uses a targeted laser to trigger network remodelling and track network dynamics during remodelling.