proposed workflow

zf2-workflow.txt

We rename "master" to "develop"
We rename "release" to "master"
Thus "master" stays the default branch, which means most PRs will be made
    against it.
Bugfixes are merged to:
    - master
    - develop
Features are merged to:
    - develop
When develop looks like the next minor or major version:
    - create new release branch, release/X.Y.0, from develop branch
    - once stable, merge release/X.Y.0 to master, and delete release/X.Y.0
    - bugfixe branches merged to release/X.Y.0 are also merged to develop

To merge a bugfix:

    git checkout -b hotfix/somename master
    git pull ....
    verify...
    git checkout master
    git merge --no-ff hotfix/somename
    git checkout develop
    git merge --no-ff hotfix/somename

To merge a feature:

    git checkout -b feature/somename develop
    git pull ....
    verify ....
    git checkout develop
    git merge --no-ff feature/somename

Hint: git pull upstream refs/pull/<PR NUMBER>/merge

Sounds like a git-flow workflow :) I create a batch of git helpers to speed up this workflow, https://github.com/petervanderdoes/gitflow You can check the wiki for all the commands.

It's a fork of the original git-flow workflow but added improvements and new features, like hooks and filters. You can see some sample on how to use them in the gist I created for the git-flow development: https://gist.github.com/2878492

If you want more info about how to use git-flow, let me know and I'll send you my email, I'll happily help you out.