This really isn't a hint so much as it is a "hey look at that ... that's nice" kind of thing.
If you run a saved Automator "application," the status of the application will show up in the OS X menu bar. along with all of the other menu extras. You can see what the script is doing as it runs, and it also has a small stop sign icon you can use to halt the process.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050505154344149