diff --git a/BUILDING.txt b/BUILDING.txt
index a917bfa1a2..57c9cd13c0 100644
--- a/BUILDING.txt
+++ b/BUILDING.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TEZ
 Requirements:
 
 * JDK 1.8+
-* Maven 3.1 or later
+* Maven 3.6.3 or later
 * Findbugs 2.0.2 or later (if running findbugs)
 * ProtocolBuffer 3.21.1
 * Internet connection for first build (to fetch all dependencies)
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 656aaf0fc0..5f4e89e2d6 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1058,7 +1058,7 @@
             <configuration>
               <rules>
                 <requireMavenVersion>
-                  <version>[3.0.2,)</version>
+                  <version>[3.6.3,)</version>
                 </requireMavenVersion>
                 <requireJavaVersion>
                   <version>[${maven.compiler.target},)</version>
diff --git a/tez-api/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/dag/api/TezConfiguration.java b/tez-api/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/dag/api/TezConfiguration.java
index 3dc6fe4745..7e86853631 100644
--- a/tez-api/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/dag/api/TezConfiguration.java
+++ b/tez-api/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/dag/api/TezConfiguration.java
@@ -905,7 +905,7 @@ public TezConfiguration(boolean loadDefaults) {
   @ConfigurationProperty
   public static final String TEZ_AM_YARN_SCHEDULER_CLASS = TEZ_AM_PREFIX + "yarn.scheduler.class";
   public static final String TEZ_AM_YARN_SCHEDULER_CLASS_DEFAULT =
-      "org.apache.tez.dag.app.rm.YarnTaskSchedulerService";
+      "org.apache.tez.dag.app.rm.DagAwareYarnTaskScheduler";
 
   /**
    * Int value. The AM waits this amount of time when the first DAG is submitted but not all the services are ready.
diff --git a/tez-dag/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/client/LocalClient.java b/tez-dag/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/client/LocalClient.java
index f6a626e64c..bf1cef4c45 100644
--- a/tez-dag/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/client/LocalClient.java
+++ b/tez-dag/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/client/LocalClient.java
@@ -331,8 +331,17 @@ public void run() {
           // Prepare Environment
           Path logDir = new Path(userDir, "localmode-log-dir");
           Path localDir = new Path(userDir, "localmode-local-dir");
-          localFs.mkdirs(logDir);
-          localFs.mkdirs(localDir);
+
+          // fail fast if the local directories (on the paths that were used on HDFS) cannot be created
+          // in this case, user might want to choose a different staging path, which works on the local FS too
+          if (!localFs.mkdirs(logDir)) {
+            throw new IOException(
+                "Unable to create log directory, try to create it manually for further insights: " + logDir);
+          }
+          if (!localFs.mkdirs(localDir)) {
+            throw new IOException(
+                "Unable to create local directory, try to create it manually for further insights: " + localDir);
+          }
 
           UserGroupInformation.setConfiguration(conf);
           // Add session specific credentials to the AM credentials.