First of all, we want to be in control of our software. We use Git(hub) to do version management. We use git flow strategy. We have a master branch that holds the code of the latest stable release. Then we have a development branch that holds the latest added features and bugfixes. We want this branch to be stable too. It must be buildable at all times, and no half-on-its-way functionality should be in it. For new features or other issues, we use feature branches. These branches are work in progress. They might be buildable, or they might not. Feature branches should be used for work in progress only. This keeps the amount of branches manageable. Tags can be created for all kind of other reference purposes to specific commits.