Null pointer exception when creating a template

The template is successfully created, but is then followed by a null pointer exception.

Command:
mvn compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=com.example.WordCount -Dexec.args="\--runner=DataflowRunner \
\--project=my-project \
\--stagingLocation=gs://my-bucket/staging \
\--output=gs://my-bucket/output/outputfile \
\--templateLocation=gs://my-bucket/templates/mytemplate"

INFO: Template successfully created.
[WARNING]
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecJavaMojo$1.run(ExecJavaMojo.java:293)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.getJobWithRetries(DataflowPipelineJob.java:489)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.getStateWithRetries(DataflowPipelineJob.java:465)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.waitUntilFinish(DataflowPipelineJob.java:304)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.waitUntilFinish(DataflowPipelineJob.java:240)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.waitUntilFinish(DataflowPipelineJob.java:193)
at org.apache.beam.runners.dataflow.DataflowPipelineJob.waitUntilFinish(DataflowPipelineJob.java:186)
at com.example.WordCount.main(WordCount.java:184)
... 6 more

Imported from Jira [BEAM-2400](https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/BEAM-2400). Original Jira may contain additional context.
Reported by: melap.

Reproduce the issue with the supplied mvn compile exec:java command and inspect DataflowPipelineJob.java at getJobWithRetries (line 489), along with the waitUntilFinish calls in the stack trace. Trace the template-creation path from com.example.WordCount.main at WordCount.java:184 and determine why waiting after successful template creation reaches a null value; done means the command no longer throws this exception.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.