ASAs ATC Nirvana can work, provided we never have inclement weather or system dramas. If (when) we have these issues their Worlds Best Practice procedures go out the window.
...just don't tell a Level 3 Manager.
One infamous manager in Melbourne, tall, loud and aggressive once stood over me in his office and dictated the virtues of this ATC Nirvana, the infallibility of established route structures and procedures and why controller's weren't required to think... just to do what they're told.
To which I replied "yes... until the thunderstorms hit".
His response... silence.