I'd have to agree with your decisions. I'm on Slack, but almost the same setup: i3, tmux, urxvt, vim. The setup is unstoppable. I've found that I no longer need

I'd have to agree with your decisions. I'm on Slack, but almost the same setup: i3, tmux, urxvt, vim. The setup is unstoppable. I've found that I no longer need quick launch links (just define/use shortcuts for whatever you need). Switching desktops is really fast and easy (you don't drown in ridiculous animations just by switching to the "browser" desktop), and floating/hidden windows make opening a quick shell really simple. Doing everything via keyboard saves so much time...however I do come from the vim world, so I may be biased =]. On top of all that, i3's config is really, really easy. Admittedly, I haven't used any other tiling window managers. I did a bunch of research after deciding to try one out, landed on i3, and haven't really looked back. Would definitely recommend it to an efficiency-minded person. Also the simplicity of i3 is beautiful. Combine its minimal interface with a few shell windows with opacity=.85 and you've got an incredible looking desktop that's easy to navigate, responsive, and efficient. Even my not-very-tech-savvy girlfriend saw me working in it and said "Wow, that's pretty!"