The order to 'full astern' also impacted manoeuvrability as the centre screw did not work in reverse, which robbed the ship of water flow over the rudder.
This one is debatable. As it's not really known whether the engineering crew actually had time to stop the shafts or not. Titanic hit the berg less than a minute after sighting it. While they likely had time to close the steam valves, it's highly doubtful they had stopped the shafts before she hit.
The thing about damage control- we don't really know what they tried, or what worked if they did.
Technically true. We don't know what they did or did not do. However, none of the surviving officers or crew mentioned any efforts at damage control beyond closing the watertight doors and keeping the pumps running. There's also evidence that several hatches were left open (particularly the forepeak hatch and the gangway door on D Deck) were left open, increasing the pace of flooding.
More lift boats would not have made a difference unless they had starting filling them sooner. They didn't have time to launch the ones they had. A faster start would have helped. Officers being fully briefed on the davits would have been invaluable.
A boat drill would certainly have helped with letting people know where they are supposed to be- but the 'men' helping the ladies/children to boats would have been social more of the time. However a boat drill may have also helped with the number of people in each boat since they knew which boat to turn up to.
They did launch the boats. All but collapsible D (include B if you count her being allowed to float off the deck). The issue wasn't the davits. The issue was really two fold. One being the officers were concerned that the boats would collapse if filled to capacity. They were unaware that the boats had already been tested before leaving Belfast. The other issue was interpreting "women and children first" as "women and children only." That caused a number of boats to be launched when there were no more women or children visible in the area.
As far as boat drill, yes it would have been invaluable. However, there are key differences between boat drill in 1912 and boat drill in 2017. Today, boat drill is to show every passenger their assigned lifeboat and where to go in an emergency. In 1912, it was primarily used to show the CREW where to muster in an emergency and to go over emergency procedures. Passengers were given general muster areas, where they were expected to basically keep out of the way and await instructions from the crew. They were not signed to boats as they are today.
I still wonder what might have happened if the Marconi set had not broken down on Titanic, and thus Phillips and Bride were not behind on passenger traffic, thus ensuring all the ice warnings made the Bridge. Esp if Californian had referenced their aborted message as 'for the Masters eyes' meaning it had to goto Captain Smith.
That wouldn't have made a huge difference. Maybe a few more I've warnings are posted to the bridge. As for Californian's message, I seriously doubt addressing it directly to Captain Smith would have made a difference. Phillips was tired, overworked, with a mountain of messages to send and receive. As soon as Californian cut in, Phillips exploded.