I have far too many windows open to display everything at once, even with my 3 widescreen monitors (the curse of being a developer). I usually need about 4-5 workspaces to organise everything. Sometimes more. Often there are also multiple windows arranged on a single screen (I use tiling, so windows never overlap). I know by heart which application is on what workspace and screen (because it's always the same). Because each workspace has a hotkey (Win + a numbered key) I can instantly pull up any window that I need, without searching for it.

I like to set up workspaces for general categories of software. For example, I tend to have a "work" workspace and a "communcation" workspace. I'll have my IDE, a terminal window, my notes, a web browser etc. open across my two monitors in one workspace, and then email, Slack, Signal etc. open in another.

They all stay open all the time, and stay where I put them on screen, no minimizing. I nearly never look down at the window list to process if an app is open. If I hear a message arrive notification, I don't really have to think about it, my hands just go to the hotkey, and my eyes look where the window should be.

Tiling everything on one workspace, even with two monitors doesn't leave enough from for doing much work, and minimizing things means you have to consciously process "what app was that? What does the logo look like? Move mouse to, click there, where'd it open? Ah."

I also have high hopes for Pop! OS, but it looks like they are trying to be a full DE instead of just a set of Gnome extensions now.