For me, usually on the day of departure from PVG to HKG, I will check (in the morning) if the flights from HKG to PVG are delayed, given that if these are delayed, the return sectors will be badly affected.
Also I tend to go to airport earlier and if the flights are delayed, I will try to request to go on the next earliest flight (that have been delayed too) so that I can connect to the flight in HKG and they generally obliged if seats are available.