Recently, our offices have been doing something we have taken to calling the “task order shuffle”. One project runs out of money and the team members have to be rapidly dispersed to other teams where they can be useful. It’s a less than ideal situation but, in some environments, it’s unavoidable.
For me, I’ve found that the best way to start adding value to a new team, right away is to start doing user testing on the software. Unless they have been doing it regularly before you got there, it’s a great source of new information and direction that is best gathered by someone new to the group.