"Looking through the FD"
This discussion inspired me to reflect upon my early experiences with the flight director. I was new to jets, FDs and two crew flying, so to say that my learning curve was steep would be a gross understatement. Just handling the radios, charts, checklists and TOLD cards made me feel terribly behind and of limited value those first couple of flights. When given the opportunity to fly the plane, I felt like I did okay with raw data( or as much as a rookie who doesn't know squat about what to expect can!) but always seemed to be playing catchup with the flight director command bars whenever the FD was engaged. It felt like I chased those FD-109 command bars all over the sky!
After listening to a few helpful hints from my ever so patient and unfailingly supportive captain and struggling perhaps a little less each leg, I learned to anticipate the command bar movements and began to feel as though I could predict their movements well enough so that the bars followed just slightly behind me instead of the other way around. Cappy said whatever you're doing, keep doing it because you found the secret to flying pax without making them sick! Now learn to stay ahead of the speed trends and you'll really be on your way to learning this beast and flying accurately with or without the FD.
And for me that was the key. If you always know what the FD is going to command and when, then you become the master rather than a replacement for the AP servos. I've heard the FD called the electronic flight instructor. Well, maybe at first but I prefer the idea of using the FD to confirm what you already know rather than just following it's cues like a puppy dog trailing it's master. Altitude and course/heading captures are accomplished with smoothness, accuracy and confidence when you're just a bit ahead of the yellow birdie. I've heard this technique referred to as "looking through the FD" too.
Of course the road to becoming a true master of the airplane is much longer and more winding than that, (given enough opportunity) but learning to use the FD to maximum benefit is an important step in the progression. The best pilots I've ever flown with could ALL fly smoothly and accurately no matter what level of automation was being used. I don't think it coincidental that these pilots seemed to be the same ones who took a similar approach to the overall planning and conduct of their flights. Bottom line: If you usually know what's going to happen next you're rarely surprised. Surprise (failure to anticipate) is the mother of most screwups. Seeing through what the FD is doing right now to what it will be doing in the near future is just one example of "staying ahead of the airplane".
Of course the foregoing is just my own perspective on the matter. Yours may be different.