I've been trying to come up with a list of things that people new to trad climbing should keep in mind when placing gear, cleaning gear, evaluating gear, and building anchors.  The usual disclaimer applies:  This isn't meant to be instructional, it is a guide to help experienced climbers.

Evaluating Anchors

My favorite mnemonic for evaluating anchors is EARNEST.  Many climbers learn SRENE, but EARNEST is more comprehensive.  SRENE isn't even spelled correctly.

• Equalized - You know that -- no matter what you do -- most anchors aren't really equalized, right?
• Angle - For pieces equidistant from the power point, force on the pieces increases as the angle between them (power point at the vertex) increases.
• Redundant - No single point of failure.  This applies to the rock too... be careful not to place all your gear in a single feature in the rock.
• No Extension - If one of your redundant components fails, try not to have the anchor extend too much.  Note that this is incompatible with equalization.
• Strong - Use big gear, well placed, in good rock.
• Timely - Please don't make me sit for 20 minutes while you attempt to build an anchor.  It makes me trust the final result less, not more.

As for how to tie together a belay anchor, I discuss that here.

Evaluating Gear

I've never seen a comprehensive list much less a mnemonic for evaluating the placement of a piece of trad gear.  So with the help of a friend, I came up with one.  Let me know what you think.  The mnemonic is SCORED.  As in, "hey brah, you totally scored a bomber placement there."  It only works if you say it that way, according to Ms. Pants, Acronym Designer Extraordinaire.

• Shape of the Rock - How well does the piece match the space in the rock?  Nuts in a constriction (ideally both downward and outward).  Cam lobes 70-90% retracted, and not too much flare in the crack (outward flare causes cams to blow out when weighted, inward flare causes cams to walk until they umbrella).  Tricams placed with the stinger in a divot.
• Contact - Generally speaking, the greater the total area of metal touching rock, the better the placement.
• Oriented in the Direction of Pull - Confusingly, the direction of pull is usually down if the piece is the top one when you fall, but can be outward or even up on the lower pieces.  Deal with it.
• Rock Quality - Your gear is only as good as the rock it touches.  Make sure the rock isn't loose or fractured in a way that will cause your gear to fail.
• Ease of Cleaning - Place gear that will be easy to clean.  Cams that won't walk and still have a bit of retraction left.  Tricams in horizontal cracks, not vertical.  Nuts that aren't buried in a vertical crack 12" below where they entered the crack.
• Drag - Watch out for rope drag.  For more on extending draws, read here.

That list is in more or less priority order.  Let's face it, after a desperate runout, you don't care one bit about how easy a piece is to clean.  Rock Quality should be closer to the top of the list, but SRCOED just didn't seem like a good mnemonic.

In addition to a visual evaluation, all gear should be given a "jerk test." That means your climbing placements should have some jerk tug on them. This means that you should give your pieces a sharp tug in the direction of anticipated pull. Be sure to have a solid stance when you do this! Gear that pops unexpectedly will throw you off balance, and probably hit you in the face too. And you'll drop it, so clip it to the rope first. Given all that, why perform the jerk test? Because both in theory and in practice it is a good way to see what the gear will do when you fall. Especially for cams -- where the holding force of the cam increases as the load on the stem increases -- if the cam holds a jerk test it should also hold a large fall. There is no theoretical difference between the two. With nuts, a good solid jerk helps set them in place and reduces the chance that they will come out due to rope drag.

This discussion of evaluating gear doesn't cover when to place gear.  John Long says in one of his books, "never pass up an opportunity to place good gear."  Or something like that, I can't be bothered to look it up right now.  Obviously the most important consideration is placing gear which will keep you from hitting anything if you fall.  And keep in mind that with rope stretch and slack in the system, you will fall much further than you expect.  Other considerations are the ease of placement and cleaning (as a tall guy, I try to be considerate of shorter seconds), and what gear you will be needing later in the climb (especially before the crux and at the belay anchor).  When the climbing is easy for me, I tend to cruise up the climb with my eyes open for obvious placements, and I take them when I find them.  When the climbing is hard, I'm much more focused on getting gear at every decent stance and protecting myself from hitting anything should I fall.

A final topic in evaluating gear is evaluating fixed pieces.  Here is my motto (at least for the Gunks) "always clip them, never trust them."  Old pitons and manky fixed gear will probably catch a fall, but you never really know.  Still it doesn't hurt to clip gear as you go past.  It is especially nice to clip an old piton so you have a toprope as you fiddle with the tiny cam you are placing in the crack right next to the piton.  You can even reclaim the draw after you have bomber gear next to the old fixed piece, it only takes a moment.  The only time I don't clip gear is when doing so would cause significant rope drag or if it seems likely I'll run out of draws before the end of the pitch.  And at the Gunks I always carry a screamer for the first piece of fixed gear I encounter.  A screamer won't turn a rusted old lost arrow into a stainless 1/2" bolt, but it makes me feel better.  And don't forget to tell a new second when you clip fixed gear least you end up waiting 20 minutes while they try to untie all the tattered webbing at a rap station.

Cleaning Gear

• Always Always ALWAYS leave the gear clipped to the rope while you clean it from the rock. Don't drop my gear.
• Cams - Pull the trigger. Simple. Remember the stem of the cam must be completely unloaded to clean the cam. Also, cams tend to walk into cracks.  Don't make it worse, if you can't clean the cam just leave it and let the leader go back down to get it.  When cams get stuck it is usually because an inexperienced second gets them stuck when trying to clean them.
• Nuts - Tug on the wires a bit, but stop if the nut doesn't come right out.  Don't haul on the wires, you will just kink them.  Place the nut tool against the base of the nut and give it a good tap.  Don't stab at the nut with the nut tool... you will end up with scraped knuckles.  You may have to hammer on the back of the nut tool with a small rock, but mostly cleaning nuts is a 3D puzzle not a brute force operation.
• Tricams - Don't use a nut tool.  Just reach in with your fingers, un-cam the tricam, and remove it.
• Did I mention that you shouldn't drop my gear?  Thanks.