1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors, a pending update list including a first plurality of items, wherein each item of the first plurality of items describes an update to a hierarchically structured document; adding, by one or more processors, each of one or more items of the first plurality of items to a subsumed update list having a second plurality of items, wherein the subsumed update list is ordered based, at least in part, on a document order and on a target node of each of the second plurality of items; applying, by one or more processors, subsume logic to each of the one or more items based, at least in part, on the second plurality of items; and responsive to determining, by one or more processors, that the subsume logic has been applied to each item of the first plurality of items, executing, by one or more processors, each of the second plurality of items of the subsumed update list.