Overall you did a great job on this. Impressive if you haven’t done it before. Your retrospective is solid. Using post saddles is the move so the wood doesn’t touch the concrete. Generally easiest and most forgiving to set the concrete pour height with a transit, chalk lines, and use sleeve anchors with saddles (which it seems like you did) so you align things perfectly once the concrete has cured enough to load.

For anyone else reading this considering taking on a deck and digging footings, the best approach with the holes if you don’t have access to a skid steer or excavator with an auger attachment, is to rent a towable earth auger like this:

https://www.unitedrentals.com/marketplace/equipment/lawn-lan...

You only need 1 person to operate and it’s much easier than 2 person because it doesn’t transfer any horizontal load / leverage into the operator so you can just focus on lowering the auger and raising it up. Much safer if you hit a root or rock too.

If you’re brave though you can just dig it by hand though. Everyone should dig some 4’ deck footings or shovel 3/4” clear stone all day at least once (good for drainage and preventing mud under the deck) so its easier to see and appreciate how great working on a computer daily really is.