1. A computer-implemented method for expressing temporal relationships between lifecycle representations, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining two or more lifecycle representations of at least two components of at least one computing system, wherein the at least two components comprise a first component and a second component; annotating the two or more lifecycle representations with at least one temporal relationship, wherein the at least one temporal relationship exists between two states in the lifecycle representations of the at least two components, wherein the at least one temporal relationship links a first state in the lifecycle representation of the first component with a second state in the lifecycle representation of the second component; and storing the two or more annotated lifecycle representations as at least one deployment descriptor, wherein the at least one deployment descriptor is useable for managing the at least one computing system.