Optimised distribution missions

I am currently doing trading missions - for the 'Standing' rather than for the ISK.  Standing affects the taxation of (at least) refining ore.  I currently see a lot of refining ore in my future (buying raw ore and selling minerals), so I want my standing to be 6.67 (I think) in those stations I refine in.  So I have a bit of grinding to go. ISK is always useful, but at the moment a secondary goal.

At the moment I have exactly one usable L3 Agent (there is a second - about 2 regions away), and a large number of L2 Agents.

Conventional wisdom states that multiple chained missions is better than single missions.  I assume that mixing the single L3 mission with multiple L2 missions is desirable.  This makes sense to me, as a large part of the time is waiting for a warp or jump to complete, and you want to minimise the number of jumps/mission. This type of routing - is in effect a traveling salesman problem and is technically hard (really - go look at that last link).

So I have a goal.  Centered around my single usable L3 distribution agent, I want to pick up as many L2 & L3 distribution missions and complete them with as few jumps as possible.  Doing the routing for this is easy if you only have 2 or 3 stops - but gets tricky when you get past that.  I also have a solution; using evemaps.dotlan.net/route and a second window.  I am also disregarding mission bonuses - they will be nice when I get them, but I would rather complete another mission for standing and ISK than get the ISK bonus alone.

• In my home system, My particular L3 agent is in a system with 2 other L2 agents.  I pick up the 2 L2 missions and the L3 mission.  If they are in the same system, I complete them and get a new mission again.
• I enter my start system, and the (generally 3) destination systems into the route planner at http://evemaps.dotlan.net/route and "Optimize" the route.  This shows me:
• A map of where I am going
• The number of recent reported kills & number of reported jumps.
• A proposed minimum number of jumps.
• I keep open my Agent finder (I made a shortcut to it so I can bring it up easily), setting Agent Type to Distribution (the type of mission I want to run, and security status to high (I dont have a ship or the skills for lowsec) and my faction set (to keep my refresh time down), and finally my Agent Level (currently 2; home to improve this soon) so I can see the desirable agents.
• If there are any desirable agents in my current system, I stop there and get the missions, adding their destinations to my route and "Optimize" again.  I will currently decline a mission if it takes me through lowsec, or if it takes me beyond my arbitrary maximum distance from my 'home' system.
• If I am passing by my 'home' system and I don't have my L3 mission, I will pick up it up (not sure if I should, but seems a good idea)
• Then I generally go to the next system dotlan suggested; delivering and collecting from stop to stop.

Others have suggested starting at the end of a chain of systems, to assist with routing; and I think to maximise mission bonuses.  I suggest that if you have multiple monitors and are looking to chain missions, the above allows you to use an appropriate tool to the 'hard' routing - re-optimising after each piece of new information; leaving you to do the simple tasks of jump; dock; complete mission; accept mission and put cargo into your ship.  (You could never make a mistake with something as simple as putting cargo in your hold. Honest)

Add systems and Optimize or Go

Where am I going and how dangerous is it?

And a generated map with highlights.  Click to expand.