If you are a Drupal developer and are not using the Drupal features module to help with your workflow, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. What kind of opportunity you may ask? How about an opportunity to make your life easier, allow you to develop Drupal websites faster, and provide you with simple ways to version control your exportables (views, cck, panels, variable settings, etc). I am going to give a brief recipe of how I use features in my workflow in hopes that maybe you will get some new ideas (and perhaps send ideas my way as I am always looking to improve the development process).
If you want a complete walk through and introduction to the Features module as well as more information on crafting a Drupal development process. You can check out my 5 Secrets to Becoming a Drupal 7 Ninja Ebook.
If you are interested in a video on the Drupal 7 features module, check out my Drupal 7 Features module introduction.