[Nevermark]

In this case, they were great maintaining stuff too. They remained available to dip into that work whenever it helped.

But as a rule, it would not have been challenging enough to keep them engaged for long. And it would have been a waste of their talents for themselves and the organization.

It wouldn't just have wasted their time directly, but wasted the opportunity for less (but still A-grade) developers from diving into a new area and maximizing its value. There was still lots of creative work to be done. These were not trivial new areas.