[graeme]

For the application shortcuts, is there an advantage over activating spotlight (cmd + space) and typing the first few letters of the application name?

I've been thinking about making screenflow workflows to open up a set of files, which could be quite powerful.

[woogle]

Yes. For those you often switch (eg Atom > Chrome > Atom). O(1) access FTW.

I use Spotlight for app I launch but don't really switch Mostly CSGO, Heroes of The Storm, Mumble and TS (Games!)

Actually I use shortcut a lot more for switching than for launching. For instance I launch atom from iTerm. A standard flow could be code, test, terminal commit, chat on Slack/IRSSI, IDE.