1. In a computing system comprising a computer processor, computer-readable storage, and including an execution pipeline which comprises a plurality of handlers which operate on payload objects, a method of optimizing execution of handlers in the pipeline, the method comprising: each of the plurality of handlers indicating policy information describing the payload objects on which the each handler should execute; receiving a payload object; referencing policy information about the payload object, the policy information including at least one property value; based on the policy information about the payload object and at least one property value, selecting one or more handlers from among the plurality of handlers within the pipeline; and executing each of the selected one or more handlers on the payload object.