I have to say Xmas, that I almost never criticise another poster, but I disagree with just about everything you have posted above. I think maybe you are an "old hand" and looking at this from the wrong end, whereas I am a relative newbie who has fairly recently gone through the learning curve to making decent prints I am satisfied with. Don't take it personally, but my reasons are below:-
Buy a small size of RC until you can split grade and burn and dodge like a pro. Saves a lotta money. >> NO, buy a decent size say 8 x 10. Good compromise and larger prints have more impact IMO. Yes you save a little money, but working (dodging/burning) on small prints is also much more difficult than on larger prints. You can easily cut down 8 x 10 if you want to, and its a good size to make decent test strips from.
When developing by inspection use a kitchen timer don't pull the print out until after the timer goes. >> WHY develop by inspection? - just develop to completion, and it takes a variable out of the process. Develop to completion - in my experience roughly twice the time from when the print initially looks just about "done".
Use a thermometer in the dev tray. >> No, provided the developer is't freezing, if you develop to completion it is almost irrelevant. I haven't found it necessary to monitor temperature of paper developer yet.
When you can fine art print then you can go to Bromoil and warm tones. >> ?? process of using warm tone paper and/or developer is just the same as using "normal" materials, it doesn't take any more/less skill. Use either/or as you wish. Bromoil is a different ball game entirely using home-brew chemicals, one at least of which is nasty, and belongs in the alt-process category.
It is best to pick the easiest negative and waste a box getting it perfect. >> NO, As a newbie, how do you know which is the easiest negative, or even what is "perfect"? Just print them as you go. You'll learn that some negs print easier than others. Striving for "perfection" on a single print in the early learning phase is IMO a waste of time and material. What is a good idea is to learn to print a set of contacts (and again 8 x 10 is a good size because you can print a whole 35mm or 120mm film on one sheet) and then its easier to select the negs that have the nicest images on.
A grain focus tool makes focus simple print at f/11 unless the print is big. >> Agreed, grain focus tool is very useful, but why stick to F11? Use whatever aperture gives reasonable print times, but bear in mind the "middle ground" 5.6-16 probably gives optimum performance on your lens.