I have done my share of tinkering/gun smithing and consider myself a pretty good 'novice' (along with most other mechanical applications) however something I have done many times when disassembling a gun or a component is to take a picture of it.
This has helped me many times, especially if a day or two has passed before reassembly due to other repairs or issues.
I have even gone so far as to take pictures of the sides of a receiver, printed them and punched the corresponding screws into their locations on the picture as a guide to reassembly.
Id rather be sure than to look at a cupful of screws & parts and to scratch my head wondering how they go back together.
Tech manuals (for anything) would have no value without pics and few extra minutes to keep my phone handy to snap a few pics along the way has saved me a lot of frustration!
I took my new to me, possibly un-fired, M-94 in .357 mag apart just because that's what I do. I wouldn't have if I didn't have Y-tube. Gettin' all that lever/bolt linkage/lifer and stuff all together back up in the receiver is an exact process.