I use my gamepad with 11 buttons pretty much like Daddy Hoggy. (12 buttons, but I am unable to use the left analogue stick as button without mis-stearing ^^ )
- stick 1 for roll and pitch
- stick 2 for yaw (and front view / rear view)
- right side upper shoulder button for +thrust, right side lower shoulder button for -thrust.
But mostly I think you can do it anyway you like and then get used to it - I reassigned the functions 2 times until I was happy and then of course each time had a hard time adapting to the new scheme. (like ECM-ing myself to death often

)
The throttle, I want to be able to use it while I also steer my ship.
So I can't have it on the buttons I press with the right thumb that also controls yaw/ views.
Of course I would like to have such tiny extra wheel that sets thrust + and - , but well ....
(someone around here has that on their joystick.)