Determine block placement strategy

Drupal’s interface for positioning blocks is not very intuitive for new site administrators. We have tried context module for this purpose, but it is actually more confusing, and when the context is exported with features the upkeep is impossible. We need to get rid of context, and potentially develop (and contribute back to drupal.org) a module to achieve a better ui. The beginning ideas for that module are at http://groups.drupal.org/node/151914.