1. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising: program instructions for receiving a data object in a data storage system to be managed in a workflow process including a plurality of states; program instructions for determining an expected change to the state of the workflow process corresponding to the received data object based upon a plurality of state statistics, wherein the plurality of state statistics track activity associated with the plurality of states in the workflow process comprising of a length of time the workflow process remains in each of the plurality of states, the probability of branching to a given state of the workflow, and the frequency of access to the data object associated with one or more states; program instructions for collecting information about historical state changes of the workflow process; program instructions for applying the collected information about historical state changes of the workflow process to adjust the plurality of state statistics, wherein the applying the collected information comprises determining a new state statistic by using a recent state statistic and a past state statistic; and program instructions for managing storage of the received data object within the data storage system based on the expected change to the state of the workflow process corresponding to the received data object.