Pick up a set of 7403's, the charcoal baskets. $15 from almost anywhere that sells Weber.
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7403-Char-Basket-Charcoal-Briquet/dp/B000WEMGM4Set aside for the moment any feelings you may have about why you "shouldn't" need them. What we want to do is set some baseline experiences here in a way that lets us easily manage charcoal and remove some usage variables.
Ditto the 7616 chimney,
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7416-Rapidfire-Chimney-Starter/dp/B000WEOQV8 And the 7417 cubes work great,
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7417-FireStarters-Lighter-Cubes/dp/B001AN7RGG You can use newspaper or whatever to start the chimney but again, we're looking to establish some baseline performance here before moving on.
I don't always wait until the tops are ashed over because I know the bottom coals will be largely spent. I want to see flames licking up near the chimney top however.
A full chimney dumped into the holders (regardless of what you are cooking) fills them up and provides an easily repeatable platform to begin adjusting heat.Keep the baskets together for a sear zone or separated on opposite sides, cooking in the middle. In my experience cooking in the center with heat on opposite sides gives you a nice "rectangle" cooking area that won't require you to flip, rotate or move food around very much, and your cook grate's hinged openings can be positioned right over the heat for longer cooks when coals need to be added.
Position the lid vent over food, not heat and to hell with where the lid thermometer winds up. It'll never be your priority because they always lie.
With all vents open you'll see a solid 300-350 (or more?) at the grate which works for most cooks unless you're in a hurry. Yes, simple chicken dummies or thighs should take a while to cook. Only reduce heat down at the intakes, never with the lid vent unless desperate.
The next day, shake the charcoal basket(s), letting ash fall below and use them to dump back into the chimney so that you're not having to pick them up by hand or by tong to transfer to the chimney.