My experience connecting was horrible too - left for hours in a room until I finally found a number for Qatar to call to come rescue me. I now plan to
(a) Stay overnight the night before when possible
(b) Don't do any connections at CAI except in the same terminal, and then only if there are really no other choices
(c) Get my boarding card if at all possible in advance.
It may be that I had a bad experience but it does seem that many other have had the same experiences.