Hmm, interesting point that there are people who prefer doing maintenance. I know of some large companies (PivotalLabs, Carbon Five) who avoid this problem by

Hmm, interesting point that there are people who prefer doing maintenance. I know of some large companies (PivotalLabs, Carbon Five) who avoid this problem by not doing maintenance, but there probably is a nice market niche for teams who love to do it. I didn't know I was at that step until I'd had clients in "Phase 4" for a year or more, and one of them said, "I feel like I'm getting your left over hours". At that point I admitted she was, and suggested that I help find her another team to work with. I think Patrick's advice is key here: plan for how you're going to handle it. You may not be at that step yet, but you will, I promise. Intentionally planning to handle it will prevent serving left-overs. ;-)