There are 101 ways to fly the aircraft so I can only add my personal way.
When flying the North Atlantic we are flying in RVSM airspace so we don't need to climb in 4000ft blocks.
I personally use 500 below opt for a 1000 climb, 1000 below for a 2000 ft climb. ( take the mid point).
I use 1.5 hours per 1000feet to calculate the estimates for my next level change (9 minutes per 100 feet, although 8 minutes is closer the truth,using 9 minutes makes the maths easy)
When in the cruise I make a grid on my LOG like this.
Opt Max time Waypoint
310 330 1200 20W
320 340 1330 35w
330 350 1500 50w
I give my WAH (When Able Higher) requests based on Max if there is no Turbulence forcast but request my optimum.
Hope this helps, Just my way of doing things