When programming code or writing, I always strive to hit the 'zone' . When I am in the zone, it is as if I am able to work as fast as I can think, and my productivity takes a massive spike upwards.

Certain tools or processes seem to make it impossible for me to get in to the zone. They force me to stop and wait or think about something unrelated to the task I am working on. When the actual time it takes to perform the little extra tasks adds up to a miniscule amount, the real problem to me is the fact that it knocks me out of the zone, preventing me from reaching peak efficiency.

Being a rather intangible state, I have no hard evidence of the relationship between productivity and being in or out of the zone. It can be hard sometimes to try and explain to people  that a process that may add up to only a few minutes of extra work a day, may still have a large adverse effect on productivity. I expect though that many people share this experience, right? 

So how does this relate to the 3ds Max SDK? Well I'd be interested in hearing about the kinds of plug-ins and scripts people have developed or used for 3ds Max that help them get in the zone. Also what features of 3ds Max do you find consistently breaks your flow, and you'd like to see addressed?