I'm seriously considering only playng religious civs for this reason (actually, they're already pretty good because of the cheap temples / universities)
First, if I'm in a Wonder race I delay my rev'n until it's over. Also, I only call for the revolution just after I've discovered a tech, not in the middle of research.
Rushing improvements just before rev'n is especially beneficial when you can pop rush (despotism or communism). If you don't rush, production will be stagnant for (x) turns, whereas much of the population you spend will be made up while in anarchy. And since you don't get any commerce in anarchy anyway, it's a good time to take the pop and happiness loss.
Other than that, the main issues are timing and development/infrastructure....