Grant Fritchey implores us not to forget the SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/whatever operator:
I’ve watched several people recently go straight to XML when reading execution plans because they didn’t know about the execution plan properties in the first operator. Now, don’t get me wrong. If going straight to the XML is working for you, that’s fine. Keep doing it. I’m absolutely not questioning how anyone does things. I just want people to know that “hidden” information isn’t so much hidden as much as it’s not too obvious.
Read on to see what this contains.