Context: switch from Pantheon
We are currently hosted with Pantheon, an opinionated platform, and we liked their workflow (code up from dev to live, content down from live to dev) and used it with their multidev environments (i.e. easy cloning and pushing all around). - After 6 years they're changing their pay structure for the first time, which includes making multidev prohibitively expensive for just one site.
Usage: multidev for feature branches
We use multidev for having feature branches. For example, one might be a proposed re-design of a page - that way I can keep working in one instance without polluting the dev environment with a half built feature, while working in another to keep hammering out minor fixes and improvements and push those through to dev, qa and then live.
Much later (when the feature branch is finally done) it gets merged with the recent version and pushed to dev, qa, and then live.
Goal: new flow
I need to either come up with a way to mimic this workflow that is easy enough that it actually gets done (manually setting up subdomains and migrating a copy of the site, etc. seems like a lot of idle work) - or replace this one with a different sane workflow.
It's a custom WordPress site with one to a few devs working on features, plus QA, PM, etc. who need to be able to preview the feature branch before it's even allowed into the dev environment.
