Two minutes now covers everything that usually goes wrong.
Where to put it. A hard, level, non-combustible surface, at least three metres from buildings, fences, sheds, hedges and anything overhanging. Check above it as well as around it. On a lawn, use a steel base or accept a scorched circle. On timber or composite decking, or artificial grass, use a base and a screen or don't put it there at all: a bowl full of embers gets hot enough to damage all three.
Never use any of these indoors, in a garage, in a tent, or under a gazebo or awning. Burning wood makes carbon monoxide, which you can't see or smell, and it kills people in enclosed spaces every year.
What to burn. Dry, seasoned hardwood. Wet wood smokes and spits and gives you nothing. Never put petrol, paraffin or lighter fluid anywhere near a lit or warm fire; use kindling and firelighters. Don't burn treated timber, painted wood, pallets, chipboard or rubbish. The smoke's genuinely harmful and in many areas it's an offence.
While it's lit. Someone stays with it. Keep children and dogs back, and remember the outside of the bowl is as hot as the inside. Keep water within reach. Move things with gloves and a poker, never your hands, and never move a lit fire pit. If the wind gets up, fit the spark screen or let it die down.
Putting it out. The lid is the clean way: it cuts the oxygen and the fire goes out on its own, with no steam and no cracked steel from cold water on hot metal. Without a lid, let it burn down and douse the embers from a distance. Never leave it while anything's still glowing.
The rules. Garden fires aren't illegal in England, but smoke that regularly bothers the neighbours can be treated as a statutory nuisance, and some areas have Smoke Control rules. Check with your council if you're not sure, and be decent about the neighbours either way.