For instance, new work on the successful product is needed only once every 2 months or so when users provide feedback. So a team is needed to do that work.
BUT, when there is no feedback, then what do you do with the team? Let them sit idle? Give them random stuff to work on? Specifically, what do you get your team to do when you don't have a concrete idea / new product to work on?
Ask the team. What do they think is a good use of their time? No one likes to sit idle. If they were on a heavy schedule to meet the product launch, some downtime is useful to regenerate creativity, energy and focus. Have they documented all the processes used? Have you conducted a post-project review of what worked and what didn't and what could be improved next time?
These are some things for a temporary lull, however, the bigger question is how to engage your team when there isn't work to do. Can the team handle more projects?
Good luck!
Is the team on salary or paid an hourly rate for the work they're doing? Is the product successful such that it is generating revenue in excess of paying your team?
If you have the whole team is on salary, then I'd suggest you look at whether you can transition some of that team to contract work, working only when needed and for an hourly rate. There is a risk that that person might not be willing to move to contract and you might lose them, but if you're not actively utilizing someone, I don't see how you can justify keeping them on full-time.
I don't know how you're defining success but it's likely that you can build on the success you've already achieved. For example, there might be segments of users who aren't as engaged as others. Focus on increasing engagement for them. Or, focus on new in-app purchase options, etc., all focused on increasing what's already working to generate more "success" however you define it.
It seems like a somewhat unique situation you're describing. Happy to do a call to discuss in more detail.
That's a very unusual problem, I'll be honest I always have work.
My two cents,
If you have a solid team that has the ability to build a successful product do not loose them. Finding a team that can execute quickly and successfully will get you a long way and if you have one. DO NOT LOOSE THEM.
But I have to say, if the product is successful then in theory it should be growing like mad and that should pose multiple challenges on the infrastructure and the product itself. The team will have enough to do to keep the lights on else the product itself is not successful and needs something more to make it successful.
Finally, if the product is actually successful and is not growing due to external factors then
1. I would build a new/tweaked product that the market would accept
2. If you are confident about the product, I have put developers on support calls, user demos and shadowing sessions so that they experience what the users / customers are experiencing.
3. I like to have them as a fly on the wall in prospect conversations to give them context of what the market is saying ans what the needs are.
4. IF you have truly done all of the above and have a successful product, I would send the guys and gals on vacation and tell them to enjoy. They will be doubly productive when they come back and more appreciative than creating random unnecessary work for them.
But again DO NOT LOOSE THEM IF THE TEAM IS SO STELLER. (Actually can I hire them?)
In my experience, there is almost always something useful for the team to do — even when there is no new feature work.
First, there are always technical improvements. Starting with test coverage. Better tests increase confidence and reduce the risk of breaking things when new features eventually come in.
Second, the team can invest in the overall architecture of the solution. This is hard to prioritize when you are busy shipping, but it matters a lot long term.
If you don’t have enough data, run a technical audit. Even using open-source tools like SonarQube can be very eye-opening — you’ll often be surprised how much room for improvement there is.
Another important area is keeping the codebase up to date with framework and dependency versions. This can be painful and costly because vendors introduce breaking changes, but delaying upgrades usually turns this into a much bigger problem later.
Long story short: when product work slows down, you should focus on the technical roadmap. This area is easy to ignore, but it often becomes the biggest bottleneck exactly when you least expect it.
Altough unpolished and abstract a bit yet - here's a line of questios that can help you define a strategy to purposefuly guide actions of team(s) in your question in interim:
Q1/ Througout the interim periods - how can teams be empower to "sharpen their saws" and same time to contribute to overall organization's shaping & refinement of and allignment around both the shared Vision and Goals?
Q1.1/ How can you lead so that teams to become a part of even better Product-Led organization generating even more product value and business value simultaneously, coherently?
Q1.2/ How can you lead so that teams discover new opportunities for new growth enabling features and refining metrics and product intelligence that could enable such discovery paired with better user feedback loops analysis to be incorporated in the product user-ecosystem, specifically around the specific functions of teams in question?
Q1.3/ How can you lead to foster teams to become a part of a greqater out-of-box ideation about how and where - around greater industry- and social-ecosystems - your porduct could be re-applied and leveraged in radically different context then where you've been centerig your business on so far?
Q1.4/ How can you lead to empower teams to refine and upgrade their sense of the overarching organizational purpose, their place and their vector of particular contribution within, and their discovering and pursuing opportunities to better align and integrate into the overall organizational flow of working towards the Purpose - in ways fostering overal alignment, greater coherency of teams' actions and exhanges of relevat information?
Is the team was able to make the product successfully.They can help generate new ideas you don't have to do it your own.Organise a team building that won't cost you money it can be indoor.show them how much you appreciate them and be honest that you don't have an idea now ,most people have amazing ideas they are just afraid to take risks of starting something new.in that way you keep the business moving.
