Have you tried using Google Tag Manager? It does most of this through a simple UI, which means less work/frustration for developers.
Pros: - It's good at dealing with older browsers - It's async (non blocking) - Simple to implement - No dependencies
Cons: - UI is simple but workflow is a little confusing at first - Not "plug-and-play". Still requires a little working knowledge about Google Analytics.
Agreed. It took me some time to get used to it, but after that I've come to really like it and recommend it to many companies. (Occasionally I even do the setup as a short-term consulting job.)
> Still requires a little working knowledge about Google Analytics.
Definitely. A tool is only helpful if you know the thing you're using it on.