Are there faster ways to switch pose modes? Am I missing something? Here's the problem I'm having with weight painting;
Typical operation:

Object mode
Select rig
Select edit
Select multiple bones
Object mode
Select mesh
Select weight paint mode
Use a function, like auto weights.

Oops, I'm in pose position. I need to be in rest position to use auto weights.

Object mode
Select rig
Go into data object properties
Change to rest
Select mesh
Weight mode.

You have to click like 8 things just to change one thing sometimes. Is there a faster way to change between all these modes?
Personally when I do weight painting (or any rigged mesh work really), I split and pin the Pose/Rest controls in their own pane at the far bottom right, with bone layers and IK toggles in the same pin. That way it's just a single click to get to rest pose and back no matter what objects I have selected.
In addition, this workflow might help out a bit:

Object Mode
Select Rig
Shift-select Mesh object(s)
Weight Paint Mode.

This should allow you to select any bone in weight paint mode, pose them and paint the related vertex weights in real time, with the armature panel pinned it makes it a lot easier to do operations that require rest pose.