My doweling machine from the early 70's. It's a 1/4hp motor with a chuck, brad point drill (1/64" oversize), sliding table with a 1" slot in the fence for hole alignment. It's pretty crude, but actually works well enough for production.
Here's the tick marks & X marks to track hole positions. These are just transferred from the layout stick to the face frame stock, then drilled with the boring machine.
With dowels placed, glue would usually be in first, then clamps are set. Yes, you need clamps to make tight joints with this system, but it's bulletproof structurally.
The two questions I ask;
1 - does it look good?
2 - did it hold together during use?
Here's a dowel joint I did yesterday. Red oak is ground to make a tight fit in the tapered spear head. West System epoxy & a screw holds it in place. It's theme & variation, ad nauseam, just a different type of dowel joint. There is no right way to build, just better, more efficient & stronger as practice turns into production over time. Note: I did not use pocket screws to make this spear!