Haha Im a server owner and these are my opinions:
In my experice I do not get to play on my server as much as I want. this is because of the unbelivable amount of work that making renders, youtube videos, fixing/installing new plugins all take.
and about the "no op thing" equal does, in my opinion, work!
creating many different ranks in, in my experience what causes problems. nearly everyone craves power over others and when given that power, they often use it. In my server, though people have different ranks and therefore different jobs to do (e.g admins, builders, mods) they are not inherently "higher up" than anyone else and have all the perms that they need to do their jobs. this needs to be made clear to all of the staff members in my opinion.
Many people who are new server owners fall into a lot of traps (ik i did) such as making people staff too early or making people builders when they do not have enough skill, however it takes time and most people can get it after a while if they stick at it. Also, a lot of people have potential (especially when concerning builders) that I think are simply ignored because they are not good enough YET. I usually spend time with staff like that, getting them adjusted to the servers building style, all of the commands etc. This is where a lot of my time is usually spent. Also if you do not have the skill in that area, get another one of your staff who does to help that person, shame to see wasted talent.
Also my main worry with some server owners is that they loose sight that it is the players who are you "customers" in a way. How do you hope to get a lot of players on if they do not have fun or you ban them for minor reasons (its often worth telling staff not to perm ban unless they are a danger to the server) because of the after effects. If you ban one player, his/her friends may also leave and the moral of everyone on the server may be affected (this is also true if you demote many staff members).
Just some of my opinions
