I think it really depends. I agree that the prototypical pop something up in your face that forces you to interact with it and blocks your usage of the product make your product harder to use.
But stateful experiences don't inherently suffer from this problem. Checklists, embedded cards, context specific empty states, e.g. can all make products easier to use, and don't get in users' ways. And what someone should be shown should look different if they're in an empty product they need to setup, vs an experienced user that's very familiar with the product. Not treating these distinctly means you're compromising the experience for someone.
I do agree that keeping track of journey state in analytics tools, and getting that data to go to market teams are crucial too, but they won't make your product easier to use.
