Sugar maples work much better than other maples. Not only in the quantity of sap and the quantity of sugar in the sap, but also in flavor quality.
For the best runnings, target a few weeks back to back when the temps drop just below freezing and night, and then you have a nice sunny day the next day. Obviously that's a crapshoot anywhere, but those are the best conditions.
It's important to keep the sap as cold as you can (but not frozen) until adding it to the kettle. It will spoil rapidly at room temp (within a day or two). Just set the buckets outside, covered. Grows some really creepy pink slime and sours if you let it go bad. This is just sugar water after all.
The boil isn't really a boil. The goal is evaporation, not caramelization. All you need is a light simmer at most. You continually add more sap to the syrup as it evaporates. Keep the heat on it and top it off 3-4 times a day with more sap as needed. All you're doing is concentrating sugars.
Once you start to get close to finished syrup (by color - it's a feel thing), you want to do the final 1/2 to 3/4 reduction in volume all at once without adding more sap. You cook it down to finished volume while carefully monitoring the temp with a candy thermometer. Once it reaches "done" concentration the temperature will start to rise even though you didn't add more heat, and this is when you stop. The goal is to avoid ever letting it get hot enough in this final stage that the sugars will crystalize when it cools. You want syrup not rock candy
Can/jar/bottle into preheated (boiled) jars while hot, top with snug boiled lids, and allow to cool freely for 12 hours. The lids will seal naturally. If any don't seal (suck down), either re-can them or use that syrup first.
Stop collecting sap when the buds pop on the trees, unless you like late season sap. It takes on a burnt flavor and darker hue. It's better for the trees if you stop when the buds pop too. Remove the taps right away, and the trees will heal within a few weeks. If the taps are in longer than 3 weeks, the trees take much longer to heal and you risk permanently damaging them, especially since longer seasons tend to coincide with higher air temperatures, then the wounds are more likely to get "infected".