Is a Smooth Project a Failed Project?

As a project manager, I’ve led numerous projects of different sizes, scopes, and styles. Over time, I began to see each project as having its own unique 'project fingerprint' — a combination of challenges, dynamics, and relationships that define its identity.

One recurring mindset I’ve observed among project managers is the belief that only projects that endure significant challenges or crises can be considered successful. These dramatic moments often become the “battle stories” we proudly share during retrospectives — a kind of nostalgic hardship narrative.

However, I’ve come to see this belief as a form of project management superstition: the idea that difficulty equals value. But does overcoming turbulence always lead to true success? Or lasting benefits?

In my own experience, smooth projects — the ones with clear communication, aligned expectations, and steady progress — often deliver better long-term outcomes. These are the projects that:

• Result in long-term operations and maintenance contracts

• Strengthen client relationships

• Open doors to future opportunities with greater ease

In contrast, high-conflict projects — even if delivered on time — often leave teams and clients exhausted, relieved to move on, but not necessarily eager to work together again.

So from a strategic perspective, a “smooth” project isn’t a failed one — it may actually be the most successful kind.

Challenging the Intuition: Why Crisis-Driven Project Glory is a Dangerous Illusion

At first, the conclusion feels counterintuitive: smooth projects often lead to better long-term outcomes than turbulent, “heroically saved” ones. But why is there such a disconnect between project manager expectations and actual impact? I’ve identified several root causes.

1. Crisis-Glorifying PMs Are Not Truly Customer-Centric

Ask 100 project managers about the key to success — over 98% will claim to be customer-focused. But in reality, those who romanticize struggle are often focused not on the customer, but on themselves. Here's why:

A major project issue is, by definition, a moment of customer dissatisfaction. No matter how many internal meetings are held, until the customer complains, the issue rarely becomes a true management priority. That’s when the seeds of failure are already sown.

This often stems from:

• Overconfidence (or arrogance): believing issues can be quietly solved, or the client will compromise

• Blind spots: failing to recognize which details actually matter to the client

In either case, the project manager isn't truly customer-focused — they are risk-managing for internal optics.

Worse, once a problem erupts and a wave of remediation begins, the client often feels:

“Now you care? Where were you before?”

This creates the impression that no one listened when it really mattered — damaging trust and future collaboration.

2. Smooth Execution Is Often Overlooked — Until It's Too Late

It’s ironic: proactive risk mitigation and calm delivery often go unnoticed by senior management or clients, while dramatic firefighting wins applause.

This happens because "no news" is invisible. As a result, some project managers unconsciously learn to signal value through crisis, rather than through prevention — a dangerous feedback loop.

But in truth, what leadership and clients value most is predictability, calm, and trust. Being the person who quietly prevents a crisis is what creates strategic memory:

“This PM always delivers, even under pressure — and rarely lets anything become pressure.”

3. Peak Experience Theory: Negative Events Degrade the Memory of Success

According to peak experience theory, we remember emotional highs (and lows) more vividly than routine events. In project management, this means that even if a project is delivered successfully, a single major failure can permanently tarnish the client’s memory of the entire experience.

In one project, a client told me — years after go-live — that a particular crisis during delivery haunted their perception of the success.

“If that issue hadn’t happened, this project would have brought more business, and I might’ve advanced faster in my own career.”

That same client later left the company. The business volume from that account declined, despite our successful delivery.

This made one thing clear: clients remember the parts we overlook, especially when they touch personal or political sensitivities inside their organization. These are not just delivery issues — they’re trust fractures.

4. The Illusion of the “Heroic Recovery” — and the Poison of Emergency Spending

When a project reaches a breaking point, organizations often react with full-force escalation:

• War rooms

• Special task forces

• Senior sponsor interventions

• All-star teams dropped in at any cost

But this over-correction is always temporary — and expensive. Once the storm passes, these resources vanish. What's left?

• A client who now expects elevated support forever

• A project manager stuck with the bill: burned trust, unstable resource planning, and unmet client expectations

• A long tail of "recovery work" that eats into profitability and delivery quality

Worse, the cost of the rescue mission often derails future investment, making it harder to staff properly, preserve quality, or negotiate scope changes — poisoning the project’s sustainability.

Conclusion: True Project Success is Calm, Client-Centric, and Quietly Memorable

Projects that avoid disaster — not just recover from it — are the ones that win long-term.

Smooth execution is not boring; it's mastery.

The best project managers don’t just deliver. They protect the client experience, even when it’s invisible.