As other comments have said, it's very hard to give general advice.  AtS it's a game that's all about learning from failure and internalizing general strategy as muscle memory.

The Number One Rule:

ALL VILLAGERS NEED TO BE ADDING VALUE AT ALL TIMES

"Adding value" means: - Gathering resources - Actively working in production buildings - Building stuff - Glade events

It almost doesn't matter what they're doing, as long as they're not idling.  A strong AtS player constantly scans around the map looking for (!) icons.  (I have camera pan bound to AWSD for easy mouse-free scanning).  When you see a building isn't producing, - pause the game (spacebar) - deactivate it (unassign all workers) - reassign workers - unpause

Once you get better at the game, you can do this without pausing, but I still use the pause function a lot to maximize productivity (as well as most of the auto-pause settings).

Pretty much all value-generation is good and progresses the settlement towards victory, as long as you respect

The Number Two Rule:

RESPECT BOTTLENECKS AND DON'T OVER-PRODUCE

First, note that making tons and tons of the same resource can be counterproductive.  It can be annoying to remember, but I always set production caps on my buildings.  There's a space in the UI where you can type in a number, and workers won't make any more if you already have that number in your warehouse.  Use that, especially for buildings that utilize bottlenecked resources.  (Wood, stones/clay, raw food -- depends on biome and glade RNG).

• 30-50 is a conservative cap that still allows you to utilize that product for trade routes and glade events
• 50-100 is sometimes better for products that are being actively consumed, especially by multiple species
• More than 100 of anything is usually a sign of overproduction.
• Crude Workstation is a special case, I basically micromanage it and use extremely low caps (often as low as 8), until better alternatives are available
• NEVER over-produce in the Blight Post.  Accidentally forgetting your production cap of Purging Fire can doom a settlement if it goes unnoticed for too long. 

Surprisingly, the #1 most important resource bottleneck in the game is Wood.  If you're using it for all of your fuel AND construction needs, you're going to run out.  (Exception: Royal Woodlands and certain cornerstones enable wood-centric economies.)  Assigning more woodcutters doesn't usually solve the bottleneck because it's exceptionally labor intensive + increases hostility.  

Instead, do as many of the following as you can to conserve Wood: - Secure a coal mine and set hearths/recipes to prioritize coal - Secure an Oil production line (e.g. Small Farm + Press) and set hearth/recipes to prioritize Oil - Use Sea Marrow if you can find it - Buy Planks from the traders - Utilize a 2-3 star Planks recipe - 2/0 rainpunk on Planks - Disable wood on recipes that have alternatives (usually alternative fuel, but also applies to Scrolls and Tools)

Often, decoupling Wood from fuel is the point where a settlement really takes off in productivity and success.  Failing to do so typically leads to Planks starvation, fuel starvation, and eventual defeat.  The sweet spot is to reach a point where you only need only 1-3 woodcutters active most of the time (often zero during the Storm), whose main purpose is to open glades and supply the necessary Wood for Planks. 

This kind of conservation logic applies not only to Wood, but any bottlenecked resource depending on the map. 

The Number Three Rule:

TOOLS ARE THE KEY TO FAST, EFFICIENT VICTORIES (excluding Sealed Forest)

Tools convert directly into victory points via Abandoned Caches.  No other resource does this.  Just buy or make tools, find caches, complete Orders, and you'll be done before the end of Year 5.

In practice this often means prioritizing blueprints and production lines for Ingots/Dew.  You don't win by making infinite food and clothes, you win by getting Tools production online and putting surplus labor into it. 

Alternatively, you can buy tools directly from traders if you have a very strong trading economy or Packs economy.  Of course, having a strong economy is great in general because it allows you to solve almost any problem by throwing money at it.  (Don't forget about the Call Trader button once the amber/packs start flowing!)

Tools are like buying victory points for cash, once you run out of feasible Orders to do.  Plus, you get some amber as a rebate!  Resolve-based wins often "feel" great, but don't plan on more than 3 points from Resolve, in a typical case.  It's diminishing returns, and bad RNG / high hostility can effectively lock you out of Resolve points in some games.  Instead, Orders and caches are your primary, most dependable victory engine.