OK, the problems seem more culture based then. All of these issues tie together. Developers can't access production, so they start using production like envir

OK, the problems seem more culture based then. All of these issues tie together. Developers can't access production, so they start using production like environments, which allows for proper Ops work (Infrastructure as code - e.g. config management), which allows for easier setup of production like environments for developers ... and continue cycle. Its hard to move to that, and takes time, but it really helps. I know it can seem overkill, especially for small teams, but the tech debt paydown that happens when you end up doing it in the future can be huge, and massively disruptive.