Alright, so you want to know about “David Routh”? Man, that name takes me back. It wasn’t a person I met, not directly anyway. It was this… this system, this whole philosophy, that some genius at my old company decided was going to be our salvation. Let me tell you, it was a trip, and not the good kind.
It all started one dreary Tuesday. We got this email, all hyped up, about the “Routh Re-energization Framework.” Apparently, some guy named David Routh was a visionary, and his methods were going to triple our productivity, boost morale, make us coffee in the morning – you name it. I remember thinking, “Here we go again.”
What We Actually Did
So, the “practice” part. We were all herded into these mandatory workshops. For a whole week! I sat through hours of PowerPoint slides filled with buzzwords and diagrams that looked like spaghetti. They handed out these thick binders – “The Routh Way,” they called it. I tried to read it, I really did. My main job became trying to figure out how to apply this stuff to actual, you know, work.
The core of it, as far as I could tell, was a bunch of new meetings and reporting structures. We had to:
- Engage in “Synergy Circles” every morning. Basically, stand around and talk about our feelings about the workflow.
- Fill out “Momentum Logs” every two hours. Detailing every single task, no matter how small. My log for making a cup of tea was surprisingly detailed.
- Submit “Alignment Affirmations” by end of day. This was a paragraph on how our work aligned with Routh’s grand vision. Pure fiction, most days.
I spent more time documenting what I was doing, or going to do, according to Routh, than actually doing it. My actual output? Dropped like a rock. My boss, bless his heart, he tried to be enthusiastic. He’d walk around saying things like, “Feeling the Routh flow today, team?” Most of us just nodded, dead-eyed.
I remember one specific project. We were already behind schedule. Then came Routh. I had to re-plan the whole thing using his “Quad-Vector Prioritization Matrix.” It took me two days. The matrix basically told me what I already knew: everything was urgent. Shocking, I know. The client wasn’t too thrilled with the Routh-induced delay, let me tell you.
My practice became a masterclass in looking busy while trying to get actual work done on the sly. I started doing my real tasks early in the morning or late at night, just to avoid the Routh paperwork during office hours. I even created a set of templates for those “Alignment Affirmations” – just changed a few keywords each day. Work smarter, not Routh-er, right?
The Grand Finale
So, what happened in the end? Well, after about six months of this Routh rodeo, productivity was in the gutter. Morale was even lower. Surprise, surprise. One day, the binders quietly disappeared. The “Synergy Circles” just… stopped. No announcement, no explanation. It was like the whole David Routh thing was a weird fever dream.
I think the top brass finally looked at the numbers and realized this “visionary” was costing them a fortune. Or maybe David Routh came out with a new, even more “revolutionary” system, and they got distracted. Who knows?
My takeaway from the great David Routh experiment? That a lot of these fancy systems are just ways for people who don’t do the actual work to feel important. You can’t just slap a new label on things and expect magic. Sometimes, you just need to let people get on with their jobs. That’s my practical record of it, anyway. It was quite the experience, that’s for sure. Made for some good stories, at least.
