diff --git a/UPDATING.md b/UPDATING.md
index fcef7da5178..2b8d0e2e1aa 100644
--- a/UPDATING.md
+++ b/UPDATING.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Make sure your `cldr-json` directory is otherwise clean (`git status`)
 ### Building
 
 1. `cd` to `cldr-json`
-2. *Delete* the `cldr-json/cldr-json` subdirectory (the subdirectory of `cldr-json`).  This way, git will tell you what has changed, and you can see if any files failed to regenerate.
+2. *Delete* the `cldr-json/cldr-json` subdirectory (the subdirectory of `cldr-json`).  This way, git will tell you what has changed, and you can see if any files failed to regenerate or were newly added.
 3. Run the script `cldr-generate-json.sh`
 4. Data will be updated in the recreated `cldr-json` subdirectory.
 
@@ -35,15 +35,15 @@ Make sure your `cldr-json` directory is otherwise clean (`git status`)
 
 ### Updating the Repository
 
-1. Run `git checkout -b ...` to create a new branch.
+1. Run `git checkout -b ...` to create a new branch.  Typical practice is to create a new branch for a major version, such as `v44`, and only merge it back to `main` upon release.
 2. Run `git status` to check whether there are any newly added files/directories such as for new locales, or removed files/directories.  If you see any files or directories named `other…`, stop, because there's a generation problem.
 3. Run `git add cldr-json` to add the entire nested `cldr-json` subdirectory.
-4. Make a pull request (`git commit ...`, `git push`, ...), get it approved, and merge it.
+4. Open a draft pull request for the `v44` branch to be able to track updates to the data in progress.
 
 ### Publishing
 
 1. Run the script `cldr-generate-zip.sh` to generate zipfiles under `dist/`; their names will include `VERSION`, for example: `cldr-44.0.0-ALPHA2-json-full.zip`.
-2. Create a release tag matching VERSION in this repository.  Create a GitHub release, use other [releases](https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr-json/releases) as a guide.
+2. Create a release tag matching VERSION in this repository.  Create a GitHub release, use other [releases](https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr-json/releases) as a guide.  Make sure the release is marked as "pre-release" if it isn't final.
 3. Update the npm packages. Each sub-subdirectory of `cldr-json/cldr-json` is a separate npm package. The following script will preview
 (dry run) publishing to npm under the `beta` tag. Check the version carefully!
 
@@ -55,17 +55,21 @@ Make sure your `cldr-json` directory is otherwise clean (`git status`)
 
 4. Upload the zipfiles from `dist/` to the release page, by dragging and dropping them where it says "Attach binaries by dropping them here or selecting them."
 
+### Final
+
+- When the release is final, get the PR approved and merge it into main, deleting the `v44` branch.
+
 ### Customization
 
 See `cldr-config.sh` for customization options.
 
-You can create an executable script named `local-config.sh` with
-values to update, for example `VERSION`, `TYPES`, `MATCH` or `DRAFTSTATUS`
+You must create an executable script named `local-config.sh` with
+values to update, at minimum `VERSION`, but also `TYPES`, `MATCH` or `DRAFTSTATUS`
 
 Example, if you have a different directory layout:
 
 ```shell
-# VERSION defaults to calculating the version
+# VERSION must be set
 VERSION=43.0.0-ALPHA2
 
 # CLDR_DIR defaults to ../cldr
@@ -75,15 +79,6 @@ CLDR_DIR=../cldr-maint-43
 INDATA=../cldr-staging-other/production
 ```
 
-## Licenses
-
-- Usage of CLDR data and software is governed by the [Unicode Terms of Use](http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html)
-a copy of which is included as [unicode-license.txt](./unicode-license.txt).
-
-SPDX-License-Identifier: Unicode-DFS-2016
-
-## Copyright
+## License & Copyright
 
-Copyright © 1991-2023 Unicode, Inc.
-All rights reserved.
-[Terms of use](http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html)
+See [README.md](./README.md)