Since the 22th is fixed we can use absolute dates.

doc/release/monthly.md

@@ -56,23 +56,17 @@ Check if changed since last release (~22nd of last month depending on when last
 
 ## Make a release branch
 
-After making the release branch new commits are cherry-picked from master. When the release gets closer we get more selective what is cherry-picked.
+After making the release branch new commits are cherry-picked from master. When the release gets closer we get more selective what is cherry-picked. The days of the month are approximately as follows:
 
-* 5 days before release: feature freeze (stop merging new features)
-* 4 days before release: UI freeze (stop merging changes to the user interface)
-* 3 days before release: code freeze (stop merging non-essential code improvements)
-* 2 days before release: release candidate 1 (tag and tweet about x.x.rc1)
-* 1 day before release: release candidate 2 (optional, only if rc1 had problems)
+* 17th: feature freeze (branch and stop merging new features)
+* 18th: UI freeze (stop cherry-picking changes to the user interface)
+* 19th: code freeze (stop cherry-picking non-essential code improvements)
+* 20th: release candidate 1 (tag and tweet about x.x.rc1)
+* 21th: release candidate 2 (optional, only if rc1 had problems)
+* 22th: release (update VERSION and CHANGELOG, tag, blog and tweet)
 
 # Write a blog post
 
 * Mention what GitLab is on the second line: GitLab is open source software to collaborate on code.
 * Select and thank the the Most Valuable Person (MVP) of this release.
-* Note if there are security fixes: This release fixes an important security issue and we advise everyone to upgrade as soon as possible.
-
-## Last actions
-
-1. Update VERSION and CHANGELOG
-1. Create a git tag vX.X.X
-1. Publish the blog post
-1. Tweet about the release
\ No newline at end of file
+* Add a note if there are security fixes: This release fixes an important security issue and we advise everyone to upgrade as soon as possible.