diff --git a/leap-upgrades/README.md b/leap-upgrades/README.md
index e7775da2..e6575b41 100644
--- a/leap-upgrades/README.md
+++ b/leap-upgrades/README.md
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ bash ./run-stages.sh
 ```
 
 If you want to pre-load the stages you can do so by running the various scripts
-independently.
+independently. **You must** export ``export UPGRADES_TO_TODOLIST`` once the
+prep.sh script is completed.
 
 ``` bash
 bash ./prep.sh
diff --git a/leap-upgrades/lib/functions.sh b/leap-upgrades/lib/functions.sh
index 4c042c57..7d82ff5c 100644
--- a/leap-upgrades/lib/functions.sh
+++ b/leap-upgrades/lib/functions.sh
@@ -251,6 +251,8 @@ function set_upgrade_vars {
     export CONFIG_DIR="/etc/openstack_deploy"
   ;;
   esac
+  # Do not forget to export the TODOLIST if you run the scripts one by one.
+  warning "export UPGRADES_TO_TODOLIST=\"${UPGRADES_TO_TODOLIST}\""
 }
 
 function pre_flight {