The CSS-Tricks team shares the plugins they use. The funniest is one with 50 installs that’s 8 years old, called Advanced Post Cache, and was built by Matt Mullenweg. The code definitely has an old school vibe, but hey, if it works it works.
Also on CSS-Tricks, two things I found and liked. First, apparently you can faux-throttle your internet connection for better testing of slow speeds. Second, the CSS-Tricks license is amazing.