"Zen" has its strengths and weaknesses, but I found its discussion about "gumption traps" (Chapter 26, I believe) to be absolute, solid gold. Pirsig's description of what it's like to do gritty work on a complex system -- and all the logical, mental, and emotional blocks associated with that -- really resonated with my experience as a software engineer, and they've helped me get better at being aware of those blocks and getting past them.
The "gumption trap", both the term and the definition, is a great insight. I tend to find gumption traps really annoying and it's good to know why I'm annoyed and how to push through. When a friend of mine recommended the book he used this concept as the example of why it was amazing.
I recommend having the book Working Effectively with Legacy Software by Michael Feathers in your library, as it is essentially a practical guide to techniques for minimising gumption traps in software engineering.
May he rest in peace.