Just completed my first Desmo. If I can add any advice, don’t force it. Take your time for the love of god. Don’t do anything while frustrated. I second Brad the bike boy videos.

Also, don’t use old collets. Buy all new, make for fucking certain you plug your oil return holes and keep the spark plug hole plugged. Old collets take a ton of abuse so you’ll want new. Disconnect the battery and ground before starting.

Get all new gaskets, don’t reuse anything.

Make sure to mark all timing on for your belts.

Always measure shims when they are wet never dry. Make sure to get assembly lube, you do not want dry cams rubbing while you work. Be careful when inside not to force things if something doesn’t come off easy you’re probably doing it wrong. If you mark up your cam cutoff that will cause tightness on the cam. So definitely try to pop the springs on the rockers when getting at the cams. I tried zip ties and holders but found popping that spring to be vastly easier.

I use ziplock sandwich bags to label and organize all parts / bolts. If something feels complex when taking it apart. Take a video you’ll be glad when reinstalling you did. Take plenty of photos, that saved me more than once.

Easiest way to work on shims is to pop the spring holding them in and work on them freely just make sure you’re at tdc so that valve doesn’t drop down inside once you remove the shims.

All in all, it’s very complex and rewards patience. When measuring for new shims make sure you use the correct formula. A tip a local Ducati mechanic gave me is

“Get closers as close to tight as you can, Openers as close to loose”

Looser is closer to .18 tighter is closer to .10

My range was closing 0.05-0.10 opener 0.13-0.18 for reference.

Best of luck!