For long lived branches, I prefer to track and review the work done on master and merge master into the branch every often, I do every day. You'll handle the co

For long lived branches, I prefer to track and review the work done on master and merge master into the branch every often, I do every day. You'll handle the conflicts more easily, as they come and you'll get fresh insight/explanation from your coworkers. All at once at the end, and you end up in a nightmare of "Do you remember when you XXXX N weeks ago ?" Diverge and merge at the end is quite utopist on complex projects.