I have to do standing dead pretty often, and it's always residential. Sometimes we get lucky and there's room to drop, sometimes you can get a cherry picker in. In some cases there's no access and no room to work, home owner has to decide what to smash.
Assuming you've got plenty of room to work and can drop it in any direction then favoring the lean is great. If you have to take it against the lean then be sure and take it directly opposite to the lean. Take the time to assess the weight and ballance of limbs as well as the trunk. You can pretty successfully pull over dead stuff so long as you're directly opposite the lean. If you're off to the side the hinge side snaps sometimes.
I try not to wedge them at all. It shocks the tree and can break the hinge on smaller stuff. Since there isn't much flex in a lot of dead trees you end up with a very narrow hinge more often than not, unless it's rotten which is a whole other thing.
My preferred method is pulling over if it's not going with the lean. You want good strong bull rope and some means of tensioning it. A come along is great, as is any other sort of mechanical advantage. Winches need to be handled very carefully, and using a vehicle would be the last option for me. What I usually do is set the rope and hook it up to my mechanical advantage then stand off to the side while someone slowly tensions it. It's important to stand to the side or you wont clearly see movement in the top. Depending on the tree I'll usually tension it until the top moves anywhere between an inch and 5 inches. Then they've got the weight.
I make my gunning cut fairly deep on a pullover, about 40%. I do 2 face cuts, one from above at 45 degrees, and a second below to give me a 90 degree face. I want to keep it on the stump as long as possible. Put your best face on it, take the time and do what you need to do. Don't be afraid to mark it out, you only get one go at this. Clean out the face with a twig, make sure you've got a perfect crisp hinge. Re-cut it and make it right, there's plenty of time. Hurrying and being full of adrenaline is the cause of a lot of accidents.... People push ahead for no reason when they know they haven't quite got it right.
I make my back cut level. I start the back cut and keep an eye on it as I progess. If the kerf opens at all, they've got too much tension on the rope and I ease it off. If it closes even a little I have then inch the tension on. Control is everything on the rope, I want someone there who has a cool head and a steady hand. I keep progressing the back cut until I've got maybe 5% or less hinge depending on the tree. It's not unusual to need to come back and take a little more out of it. I pop a wedge in, but hand set it. I dont knock it.
I step away off to the side and have the rope guy inch the tension on. Hand operated devices have the advantage here because they give you more feel and they move slow. A big which or truck wont give you feedback on whether you've left too much hinge. When it's ready, it will come smooth and steady. If you're tensioning and the kerf isn't opening then you've left too much hinge; you're going to snap the tree. Take a little off and go back and open the hinge up a bit more. If the tree isn't too bad I'll stay there and give it a little tweak as they inch until we hit the sweet spot, then I move out.
Pulling over need not happen fast, and the bigger the tree the slower it goes. Big trees need time to move.
Shaun