I started a new repo called sid-builder which provides a docker based development environment for debian packaging. This project follows all of the best practices that were outlined in the Guide for New Maintainers. The benefit of this approach is that you should be able to easily reproduce your development environment on any machine that supports docker. It also allows you to easily run sid without worrying about breaking your system.
I have not actually built any packages using this setup just yet, but I am going to give it a try over the next few days and report back here.