It can be described as a recipe or trip ticket for your shooting style, abilities and equipment.  The most popular expression used today is "process". You establish the parameters you use and then follow the path.  The process entails everything from the media you select to the particular quirks your equipment has.  

QUIRKS:
Whats a Quirk, no one told me about Quirks?  One of the best examples is Nikon.  Generally they expose so as to preserve the shadow detail in processing.  Many Nikonians add .3 to.5 of F- stop in their cameras exposure settings to compensate for this. Simply put, a known step in the process. Processes put together in a greater plan create what we call workflow. Those are Quirks, they all have them

MEDIA:
The media you use is important and  you should only trust quality media for the safe keeping of your pictures.  What makes good media? Quality and consistency, and how you take care of the media. Stick with a brand that works for you.  Sandisk, Lexar, PNY, etc.  Take care of your media, washing machines, dogs and garbage disposals are not friendly.  As soon as possible, download the transfer of the images from your camera to your computer.   

TRANSFER:
Most common methods are USB, Firewire, Card Reader. Which is best for you?  And when you do transfer them, in what order, how do you categorize them are parts of the process you originate and “stylize for your self... St. Murphy- Lawes mentioned here before is the Patron Saint of all Photographers.  Not sometimes but often things go wrong and media cards are no exception. You can recover corrupt or erased files using simple software from Symantec and others, sometimes.

ORGANIZE:
OK the photos are in the computer. What categories do you further wish to save them in?  What software does the best job. There are as many types of software as there are types of cameras. Try the different programs that are offered as downloads and thats why I keep a separate drive for "experiments".

IMPROVE, ENHANCE, CREATE:
Enhancing a photo can be a simple as removing a blemish or improving the color of a photo.  The incredible software written today allows you Hollywood magic right on your own desktop. It allows you to crop, edit and Color manage your work.  

It comes at a price. time, a stiff learning curve and proper computer equipment. Your colors have to match on the computer screen to your printer otherwise you are chasing your own tail and wasting paper and ink which is very expensive.  Another control of the software is physical size and clarity of the photo, sharpening, sizing and resampling.  There are programs and on line companies that allow poster sized prints from your files for those  special occasions that warrant a poster. 

DISTRIBUTION:
Digital photography allows many means of distribution  Including prints, posting to your website for others to see and email, and there are web sites that allow you to post for free or a small nominal charge.  You can even have your photos critiqued on line.

ARCHIVING - BACKUPS:
But the most important thing you can do is preserve the basic files you have captured by saving them to two places.  A CD burner is an essential part of the process.  I run card to hard-drive to CD burner the minute I return to my desktop or my laptop on the road. My desktop is equipped with a raid card so I actually retain three of the originals.  Programs like Photoshop  Elements or Photoshop CS, or Lightroom, with their browsing abilities, allow incredibly flexible ways to index thorough batch processing and archive your collections.