Lately I have been trying to increase my productivity while using my computer. One idea that has really helped me is creating a Stack for files I am currently working on. I don't actually drag files into the folder, but when I start to work on a project, I drag aliases (hold Option and Command) for all the relevant files into this stack. This way I can very quickly access the files instead of having to open up a Finder window.
The working stack has helped a lot, but I found it annoying to have to empty the stack when I was done or switching projects. I also dislike having an empty stack, whereby the Dock will open the folder in the Finder when you click on it. To remedy both of these issues, I made a quick and easy Automator workflow that would clear all the files in the stack, and saved it into the stack. So for my Working Stack, my Automator workflow is as follows:
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071114100326818