The time in my career where I worked hardest, and with little stress, was on a team that was kind of forgotten and so we were just doing our own thing without deadlines. We decided what we thought was best and started working towards it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The team went about a year without any deadlines and very little management of any form, and yet the team was happy and working. Then we lost some political battles and all got fired--but my point is, I've seen that people will work with enthusiasm on things they care about even without pressure.

I think the problem in my situation (above) was that we were disconnected from what was important. You solve this by ensuring everyone is directly connected with the customers. It sounds nice and I hope it continues to work for you and your company.

(It's a shame that this post has net-downvotes currently.)