I'm not looking to become a project management expert but I'd like to learn enough to keep from screwing myself every time I touch a file.

An apropos quote:

Don't blame me for the fact that competent programming, as I view it
as an intellectual possibility, will be too difficult for 'the average
programmer'. You must not fall into the trap of rejecting a surgical
technique because it is beyond the capabilities of the barber in his
shop around the corner.
 -- Edsger Dijkstra
[download]

Project management - scalable project management - is like that. Whether you like it or not, that's the scope of it. You can't take an arbitrary piece of it that's "just enough not to screw up"; the field is complex enough that experienced people still screw it up on occasion. They just do it a lot less often.

It seems to me that, given this complex problem - one that requires a complex solution - your answer is "well, I don't like it being complex - somebody make it simple for me!" At this point, you've been told by a number of people, in a forum of what you yourself recognize to be experts, that it is complex and not reducible to the level of simplicity that you want - but you continue to behave as though argument will somehow force the solution that you want to come into being. I did mention "hire an expert, and then listen to them", right?

I'm poor folks.

Ah. In other words, you want (to steal a bit from BrowserUk) a stylish 18-wheel, 7-seat, drop-head, hybrid, supercar. With F1 performance, Prius economy, Peterbilt carrying capacity, Porsche cache and Spyder exclusivity. For nothing, or at least very cheaply.

Well, frustration is supposed to be good for the metabolism, and can occasionally stimulate lateral thinking. Please let us all know if you come up with something new and interesting.

But as you say, the cybersphere is full of starving experts. Maybe I should offer one a hundred bucks to put together a reading list. The question then is, "Who can I trust for good advice?"

Ah. In other words, I/we have just converted your (essentially impossible) technical problem into a (relatively easily solvable) people management problem. You're welcome.

(Hint: recognizing competence is a lower-order problem than being competent. Thus, HR and management.)