Brett Terpstra's got a slick project called Bunch that allows you to automate launching and / or quitting apps on macOS in "bunches".

I wrote Bunch because I tend to launch a specific group of apps depending on the context I’m working in. These are apps I wouldn’t launch on login, and don’t need running all the time. I just wanted to make starting a new context into one click.

I'm going to try it out but I can already see the usage for quickly setting up different environments on my Mac:

• One bunch might set me up for recording a podcast (shut down Dropbox, Drive, Time Machine. Open up Audio Hijack, Farrago, and Ecamm Live.) This is how I learned about Bunch - Brett tweeted this bunch for pausing Dropbox and Backblaze.
• Another bunch could be for email and communication mode where Spark, Slack, and Discord are opened but everything else is shut down.
• Invoicing and work "paperwork" could be another bunch where I shut everything down and open up Xero in a browser along with my Dropbox folder of expenses PDF.

This kind of app falls way outside my general rule of trying to use as few non-stock macOS apps for productivity as possible because I hate having to keep my iMac and MacBook Pro in sync with all the shortcuts to remember. But Bunch is nice in being a menu bar or Dock application that you run and can just click to use.