I guess the advice specific to piano playing technique would not be applicable, but the general principles you cite are. Learning is a very personal process and instructors who are adamant that only one technique is correct make my blood boil. I have to accommodate the restricted reach of small hands, let alone general slowing of an aging body I have to accept that my technique cannot include some excellent tricks I've seen others use.
When starting on a diatonic 2 row, I found that there was a phase of absorbing the layout of the buttons, particularly as you go through the octave and everything reverses! For that, exercises and scales are useful and they can reinforce occasionally as you progress but I believe that playing music and allowing yourself to experiment with alternative fingerings and rhythmic emphasis is the path from technical competence to musicality.
You need to embody the advice that works for you and sometimes remembered advice becomes applicable at a much later date.
Rob.