A system includes a weighted directional dependency graph defining one or more dependency links in a distributed system having a plurality of nodes. A weight is defined for each of the dependency links. A node ordering module generates a node order based on a cycle-cut set identifying at least one of the dependency links that is part of a cycle in the weighted directional dependency graph to create an output directional dependency graph. A method for ordering a plurality of decision nodes in a distributed system includes generating a weighted directional dependency graph, determining a cycle-cut set identifying one or more dependency links that are part of a cycle in the weighted directional dependency graph, and ordering the plurality of decision nodes based on the cycle-cut set.