When using any version control system, understanding which idiom you should follow to do proper branching, merging, tagging, etc is key to your process, and the most difficult thing to get a feel for.
For me, the most confusing part is that branches, tags, and the trunk are directories (both on your development system and the SVN server), and it is hard to see which local directory is switched to what remote one.
As soon as I understood that this was the most confusing aspect for me, I could focus on it and handle it much better.
For SVN (and TortoiseSVN), these links proved to be very valuable for me: Read the rest of this entry »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 