diff --git a/release-branch-pipeline.yml b/release-branch-pipeline.yml
index d072bf756..8f8dc8bcd 100644
--- a/release-branch-pipeline.yml
+++ b/release-branch-pipeline.yml
@@ -39,14 +39,14 @@ jobs:
                 # version
                 Write-Host $pomXml.project.version
                 $VERSION=$pomXml.project.version
-                Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=version_from_pom;isOutput=true;]$VERSION"
+                Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=version_from_pom;]$VERSION"
           displayName: Save pom file version to local variable.
         - task: Bash@3
            # Prints out the build version, for debugging purposes
           inputs:
              targetType: 'inline'
              script: |
-                echo Pulled version from pom.xml => $VERSION
+                echo Pulled version from pom.xml => $(version_from_pom)
           displayName: Debug print release version
         - task: Bash@3
           # Azure pipelines cannot pass variables between pipelines, but it can pass files, so we