diff --git a/development.md b/development.md
index bb93be94..a1cbb340 100644
--- a/development.md
+++ b/development.md
@@ -9,57 +9,64 @@ brand new UDF image, and run it on a pipeline to verify the image continues work
 In order to do this you can follow these steps:
 
 1. Make the changes.
-2. First increase the version in the root `pom.xml` file (increasing the PATCH version by 1 is suggested, example: X.X.0 -> X.X.1).
-This can be achieved by running the following at the root directory:
-    ```shell
-    ./update_examples -u <version>
-    ```
-3. You can now build the test UDF image and push it to a remote repository. You can do this by simply running:
-    ```shell
-    ./update_examples -bpe <example-image> -t <tag>
-    ```
-    the -bpe flag builds and pushes the given example to the remote registry, <example-image> must be
-    the id tag used within the execution element of the desired example. It is recommended to specify a tag,
-    like `test`, as the default is `stable` which is used by the Github Actions CI. For example, in order to push
-    the example for the reducer SDK, specifically the sum function, we would run:
-    ```shell
-    ./update_examples -bpe reduce-sum -t test
-    ```
-   If you would like to build and push all the examples at once, you can run:
-   ```shell
-    ./update_examples -bp -t test
-    ```
-4. Once the version is updated and the desired image is built, tagged, and pushed, you can run a pipeline 
-using the image, i.e. we can use Numaflow e2e test cases to verify the changes.
-   - Checkout the latest Numaflow repository
-   - Find the test case and update the image and path in the test pipeline yaml file
-   - Run `make Test*`
+2. Update your local repository using maven, to reflect your latest changes. After this, ensure that the `pom.xml` file
+in the examples directory is also using these changes.
+3. Build your test images, and test them in a pipeline.
 
-### Deploying
+There exists a script `update_examples.sh`, which you can also use while testing, for your convenience.
+
+If you would like to build and push a specific example, you can run:
+
+```shell
+./update_examples -bpe <example-image> -t <tag>
+ ```
+The -bpe flag builds and pushes to the remote registry. <example-image> must be
+the id tag used within the execution element of the desired example. It is recommended to specify a tag,
+like `test`, as the default is `stable`, which is used by the Github Actions CI. For example, in order to push
+the example, for the reducer SDK, specifically the sum function, you would run:
+```shell
+./update_examples -bpe reduce-sum -t test
+```
+If you would like to build and push all the examples at once, you can run:
+```shell
+./update_examples -bp -t test
+```
+Both `bpe` and `bp` first build a local image with the naming convention 
+`numaflow-java-examples/<example_id>:<tag>`, which then gets pushed as 
+`quay.io/numaio/numaflow-java/<example_id>:<tag>`. If while testing, you would like 
+to build your image locally, without pushing to quay.io, you can run the following in the 
+examples directory:
 
-After confirming that your changes pass local testing, you should roll back the version updates before 
-publishing the PR. The real version updates can be raised in a separate PR, which is discussed 
-in the [After Release](#after-release) section. 
+```shell
+mvn jib:dockerBuild@<example_id> -Ddocker.tag=<tag>
+```
 
-1. Revert both the `pom.xml` changes by re-running the update script with the version flag:
+If you would like to build all example images without pushing, in the examples directory you can also run:
 ```shell
-./update_examples -u <version-before-testing-update>
+mvn clean install -Ddocker.tag=<tag>
 ```
-2. Clean up testing artifacts, i.e. delete any images that are no longer used on the remote registry repositories,
-so that they are not flooded with testing images.
-3. Create a PR. Once your PR has been merged a Github Actions workflow will be triggered to build, tag, and push
+
+### Deploying
+
+After confirming that your changes pass local testing:
+
+1. Clean up testing artifacts.
+2. Create a PR. Once your PR has been merged a Github Actions workflow will be triggered to build, tag (with `stable`), and push
 all example images, so that they are using the most up-to-date version of the SDK, i.e. the one including your 
 changes.
 
-### After Release
+### Before Release
 
-Once a new release has been made, and its corresponding version tag exists on the remote repo, we want to update the dependency
-management files to reflect this new version. Locally run:
+Before releasing a new SDK version, make sure to update all references from the old version to the new one.
+For example, the version in the `pom.xml` in the root and example directories. For [reference
+](https://github.com/numaproj/numaflow-java/pull/89/files#diff-9c5fb3d1b7e3b0f54bc5c4182965c4fe1f9023d449017cece3005d3f90e8e4d8).
 
-```shell
-./update_examples.sh -u <new-released-version>
-  ```
+### Adding a New Example
+
+If you add a new example, there are a few steps to follow in order for it to be used by the update script and the Docker
+Publish workflow:
 
-Similar to the deployment step, create a PR for the changes created (which should just be the version bump
-in the `pom.xml` files in the root and example directories), and a Github Actions workflow will be triggered to
-build, tag, and push all example images.
+1. Add the example to the `pom.xml` file in the examples directory, within an execution element. Note that the
+id tag you specify must be exactly the same as the quay.io repository name for the example. 
+2. Add the id tag you specified in step 1 to the executionIDs array in `update_examples.sh`.
+3. Add the id tag you specified in step 1 to the execution_ids matrix in `build-push.yaml`.
diff --git a/examples/pom.xml b/examples/pom.xml
index cd62e24e..51d3c6c1 100644
--- a/examples/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/pom.xml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <docker.tag>stable</docker.tag>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/mapt-event-time-filter-function</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/mapt-event-time-filter-function:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/flat-map-stream</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/flat-map-stream:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/map-flatmap</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/map-flatmap:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/even-odd</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/even-odd:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/simple-sink</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/simple-sink:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-sum</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-sum:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-stream-sum</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-stream-sum:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -164,7 +165,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/map-forward-message</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/map-forward-message:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-counter</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/reduce-counter:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/sideinput-example</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/sideinput-example:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/udf-sideinput-example</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/udf-sideinput-example:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/source-simple-source</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/source-simple-source:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@
                                 </mainClass>
                             </container>
                             <to>
-                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/session-reduce-count</image>
+                                <image>numaflow-java-examples/session-reduce-count:${docker.tag}</image>
                             </to>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
diff --git a/update_examples.sh b/update_examples.sh
index d5577baa..b4c04cd1 100755
--- a/update_examples.sh
+++ b/update_examples.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 function show_help () {
-    echo "Usage: $0 [-h|--help | -t|--tag <tag>] (-bp|--build-push | -bpe|--build-push-example <execution-id> | -u|--update <SDK-version>)"
+    echo "Usage: $0 [-h|--help | -t|--tag <tag>] (-bp|--build-push | -bpe|--build-push-example <execution-id>)"
     echo "  -h, --help                   Display help message and exit"
     echo "  -bp, --build-push            Build all the examples and push them to the quay.io registry"
     echo "  -bpe, --build-push-example   Build the given example id (found in examples/pom.xml), and push it to the quay.io registry"
     echo "  -t, --tag                    To be optionally used with -bpe or -bp. Specify the tag to build with. Default tag: stable"
-    echo "  -u, --update                 Update the pom.xml files in the root and example directories to the specified version"
 }
 
 if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
@@ -18,9 +17,7 @@ fi
 usingHelp=0
 usingBuildPush=0
 usingBuildPushExample=0
-usingVersion=0
 usingTag=0
-version=""
 executionID=""
 tag="stable"
 
@@ -55,17 +52,6 @@ function handle_options () {
         tag=$2
         shift
         ;;
-      -u | --update)
-        if [ -z "$2" ]; then
-          echo "Version not specified." >&2
-          show_help
-          exit 1
-        fi
-
-        usingVersion=1
-        version=$2
-        shift
-        ;;
       *)
         echo "Invalid option: $1" >&2
         show_help
@@ -78,13 +64,13 @@ function handle_options () {
 
 handle_options "$@"
 
-if (( usingBuildPush + usingBuildPushExample + usingHelp + usingVersion > 1 )); then
-  echo "Only one of '-h', '-bp', '-bpe', or '-u' is allowed at a time" >&2
+if (( usingBuildPush + usingBuildPushExample + usingHelp > 1 )); then
+  echo "Only one of '-h', '-bp', or '-bpe' is allowed at a time" >&2
   show_help
   exit 1
 fi
 
-if (( (usingTag + usingHelp + usingVersion > 1) || (usingTag && usingBuildPush + usingBuildPushExample == 0) )); then
+if (( (usingTag + usingHelp > 1) || (usingTag && usingBuildPush + usingBuildPushExample == 0) )); then
   echo "Can only use -t with -bp or -bpe" >&2
   show_help
   exit 1
@@ -98,7 +84,7 @@ if [ -n "$executionID" ]; then
  echo "Updating example: $executionID"
 fi
 
-if [ -n "$tag" ] && (( ! usingHelp )) && (( ! usingVersion )); then
+if [ -n "$tag" ] && (( ! usingHelp )); then
  echo "Using tag: $tag"
 fi
 
@@ -110,12 +96,12 @@ executionIDs=("mapt-event-time-filter-function" "flat-map-stream" "map-flatmap"
 
 function dockerPublish () {
   echo "Docker publish for example: $1"
-  if ! docker tag numaflow-java-examples/"$1":latest quay.io/numaio/numaflow-java/"$1":"$2"; then
-    echo "Error: failed to tag example $1 with tag $2" >&2
+  if ! docker tag numaflow-java-examples/"$1":"$tag" quay.io/numaio/numaflow-java/"$1":"$tag"; then
+    echo "Error: failed to tag example $1 with tag $tag" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
-  if ! docker push quay.io/numaio/numaflow-java/reduce-sum:"$2"; then
-    echo "Error: failed to push example $1 with tag $2" >&2
+  if ! docker push quay.io/numaio/numaflow-java/"$1":"$tag"; then
+    echo "Error: failed to push example $1 with tag $tag" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
 }
@@ -126,13 +112,13 @@ if (( usingBuildPush )); then
     exit 1
   fi
   cd examples || exit
-  if ! mvn clean install; then
+  if ! mvn clean install -Ddocker.tag="$tag"; then
     echo "Error: failed to build images in examples directory" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
   for id in "${executionIDs[@]}"
   do
-    dockerPublish "$id" "$tag"
+    dockerPublish "$id"
   done
 elif (( usingBuildPushExample )); then
   if ! mvn clean install; then
@@ -140,22 +126,11 @@ elif (( usingBuildPushExample )); then
     exit 1
   fi
   cd examples || exit
-  if ! mvn jib:dockerBuild@"$executionID"; then
+  if ! mvn jib:dockerBuild@"$executionID" -Ddocker.tag="$tag"; then
     echo "Error: failed to build example image $executionID" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
-  dockerPublish "$executionID" "$tag"
-elif (( usingVersion )); then
-  if ! mvn versions:set -DnewVersion="$version"; then
-    echo "Error: failed to update version in pom.xml file in root directory" >&2
-    exit 1
-  fi
-
-  cd examples || exit
-  if ! mvn versions:use-dep-version -Dincludes=io.numaproj.numaflow -DdepVersion="$version" -DforceVersion=true; then
-    echo "Error: failed to update version in pom.xml file in examples directory" >&2
-    exit 1
-  fi
+  dockerPublish "$executionID"
 elif (( usingHelp )); then
   show_help
 fi