My solution is I have a folder called shortcuts (located in my applications folder) and then various folders in it like:- Office, Mac, Utilities, Games etc. With shortcuts to the different appliations in their respected folder. Drag the main shortcuts folder into the dock and you have a very neat, quick to load solution and if you like, you can put shortcuts to anything else in there to make life simpler.
Filegazer, The StartMenu for OS X