What's the preferred way to hit max level? Infinite rare candies and meticulous tracking of EVs?

Speaking of EVs, I'm not sure how I feel about them in general. Its a fun way to "mysteriously" empower Pokes that you train the hard way versus solely Rare Candy spam or what have you, but my discovery of it was noticing that the max HP of one of my Pokes after battle incremented up by 1 and wondering what the fuck happened. It wasn't until years later when EVs were fleshed out that I got an answer to that question, but until then it was a mystery. I like that it exists as a mechanic but I'm not too fond of its lack of indication.

What's the preferred way to hit max level? Infinite rare candies and meticulous tracking of EVs?

Speaking of EVs, I'm not sure how I feel about them in general. Its a fun way to "mysteriously" empower Pokes that you train the hard way versus solely Rare Candy spam or what have you, but my "discovery of it was noticing that the max HP of one of my Pokes after battle incremented up by 1 and wondering what the fuck happened. It wasn't until years later when EVs were fleshed out that I got an answer to that question, but until then it was a mystery. I like that it exists as a mechanic but I'm not too fond of its lack of indication.