Models... no. Been there.. done that. But There are bunch of questions one has to ask hirself, time and again, and in most cases, one does not dare ask them. Esp. if u wear 5-6 hats (in most cases with contradicting goals). For everyday life u may get those asked in a pub by next stranger, but not for work-related topics needing huge amount of technological background... There comes the expert/mentor who would not mind sending your hopes/illusions to hell and back, or suggesting something unthinkable. Things like 360' exploration (in begining), building correct product vs building product correctly (all the time), release unfinished but early or all perfect but late (at end), etc. See this http://www.svilendobrev.com/rabota/metodologia.html or this http://alistair.cockburn.us/Cooperative+game+manifesto+for+software+development ; and although these mostly talk about human-side, it's same stuff on technical side, just with different names. Have fun.