This is all very good advice which will save you much stress and many wasted hours.
I would add:
Document any reference material you use, including the source and why you're including it. Cache any digital content, either in the project path or using a management tool like Zotero.
Keep a research log. Minimally, annotate your trials. Coming back even a week later and trying to figure out which trial was done on what hunch with what results is extremely time consuming without this information.