Here is a short tutorial showing an animation workflow including how to create selection sets and why and how to work with it in the outliner. How to frame keys in the graph editor and synchronize selections from the channel box and the timeline, as well as a tip for the dope sheet editor. I think in overall animation doesn`t needs plenty of functions, less is more. Creativity won´t rise with the amount of fancy buttons in the shelf :-). Maybe this tutorials helps a bit and adds some useful stuff to your toolbox.
