I will plan a long campaign, in a flow chart, from start to end, and then note where levels will fall. The game I'm running now has probably spent 12 sessions at level 8. They spent 4 at level6.
It's what works with the story, not the xp, that matters
Unless, of course, group preference dictates otherwise. Sometimes you just want crunchy rules like XP for nostalgia. Admittedly, this is only the case for 1/12th of the campaigns from the last two years, for me.