Hello @steveinjersey and welcome to this community.
In the Gig Performer world, you can do everything however you like and prefer. There are some approaches and best practices, but of course you can do whatever you want.
Some best practices are described here:
- Rackspaces vs. Program Changes - Gig Performer®
- Avoid controlling plugin parameters directly from your MIDI controller - Gig Performer®
Why best practices: because they seem to improve the stability and manageability of your setup in the long run.
Over the time you see what workflow is the best for you. For example, there are users that don’t use Setlists at all (Setlist view). Other users use one big rackspace along with the Global rackspace (global effects). There are users that use the Global rackspace only (e.g. CCM use cases). Some users don’t use (say) the Rig Manager at all. It’s Gig Performer that allows you that flexibility, and then it’s up to you to see what works for you the best. 
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You want Stream Deck? We got you covered: [blog] How to install and use the Stream Deck extension in Gig Performer
You want TouchOSC? We got you covered: [blog] Working with TouchOSC and Gig Performer
Gig Performer and its ecosystem is very well documented with a bunch of tutorials and guides → Gig Performer Resources
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Many exciting beta features are in the works and being tested, this community forum is a wonderful place, so it seems that Gig Performer is really a ‘no brainer’ today