If you complete step 10 (removal of heatsink) first you can lift the sticker off of the fan very easily by putting gentle lifting pressure from below the heatpipe. By using the heatpipe to disperse the lifting pressure it reduces the chances of ripping.
I let my steamdeck discharge battery from full to 25% using a high-resource loading screen to apply load (prior to repair), which also had the added benefit of warming all the adhesive in the unit. Made things amazingly easy to work on.
