This is a very simple use case: A list of common steps (configuration for scheduling, processing order etc.) with inter-dependent order is configured using namespaced keys, like this:

tasks.prepare.args="collect,store"
tasks.process.args="count"
tasks.cleanup.args="deleteTemps"

Expected: When iterating the keys under tasks, the order is [prepare, process, cleanup].
Actual: Dependent on JDK's HashMap implementation.

The simplest fix for this would be to use LinkedHashMap instead. As a workaround I now need to add a number as additional key to each task and then sort afterwards the objects created based on the configuration using that number to get them into order I want to.