1. A method for creating and using self-describing events in automated workflow management comprising: querying a plurality of managed components; receiving a response from each of the managed components including a list of producible event types, attributes of each event type, and a grammar to which each event type conforms; processing each response to define desired event types as triggers for steps in an automated workflow using desired attributes of each event type as arguments to workflow steps; monitoring the plurality of managed components and detecting events of the event types defined in the automated workflow; processing each detected event to create a machine readable data payload containing event information including the event type, event attributes, and a grammar to which the event conforms; and processing the data payload in the manner defined by the automated workflow by using the provided grammar of the event type to interpret the attributes of the event.