Just to clarify, when you say “stem count,” do you mean “track count” or “submix count”? Because I have not encountered very high stem (submix) counts, even when doing film, but high track counts, sure.
I totally agree that naming is absolutely necessary for a number of reasons, but I still find color-coding in addition to be useful. I keep thinking I should find an absolutely consistent system, which was the genesis of this thread, yet no such thing emerges over the course of numerous projects, so I dunno…..
As far as key commands, what I find the most helpful at all is key command sequences. I can’t think of a DAW other than Studio One that includes this feature, but, for years, I used QuicKeys to automate sequences of steps, sometimes even extremely elaborate and sizable tasks.