Well like most things "fly- fishing," there is no right or wrong way to do anything.
Its like fast and slow action rods, everyone has a personal preference or what is most comfortable for them to cast.
Same same with reels... People like em light to make the rod seem slow or heavier to make the rod tip seem quicker, as stated in Birchy's article.
You can also use lead wire to fine tune the weight of your set up, so no, you don't have to go into the fly shop and test the balance of the set up with half the line out... The finger on the cork is to get a general idea.
I used to fish a CLW on my spey rod and that is a super light reel weighing in at 191 g's, and picked up and Evotec which weighs 225g's,
I personally like the extra weight... the rod isn't totally balanced with the reel draggin it down a little, but it feels good to me.
Anything else to add Canadensis? You seem to have tons of great input...