Have you ever poured your expertise into a project that spectacularly failed? You’re not alone. Failed projects are surprisingly common, with research suggesting that 68% of projects fail.

Yet we rarely discuss how these failures affect the professionals caught in the crossfire, especially contractors and consultants who can’t simply move to another department.

After decades of working on some of the most notorious digital transformation disasters in government and corporate settings, I’ve developed strategies for protecting both professional reputation and mental wellbeing.

These approaches work whether you’re dealing with a failed website launch, a cancelled IT implementation or a digital transformation gone wrong.

The hidden career impact of project failure

Project failure strikes differently depending on your role. Permanent employees might be reassigned or sheltered by organisational structures. Executive sponsors often move on to new initiatives.

But contractors carry these “failures” on our CVs like permanent ink stains.

One project director once confided in me, “This digital transformation has three slices. The content slice is glorious. The policy slice is fine, if a bit dry. And the IT slice? That’s completely missing.”

This analogy perfectly captures why digital transformation projects fail so frequently. Teams are often siloed from crucial components that determine overall success, yet everyone’s professional reputation becomes entangled with outcomes they couldn’t control.

I often joke in my keynotes that I’ve worked on some of the biggest project failures in government digital. “Some might say that I was the common factor.”

The laughter this generates always carries a hint of recognition, because many professionals have similar experiences but rarely discuss them openly.

Warning signs of project failure you shouldn’t ignore

After witnessing multiple failed projects firsthand, I’ve noticed patterns that signal impending disaster:

• When stakeholders are openly at war with each other for extended periods
• When technology infrastructure designed for millions struggles with minimal load in testing
• When basic functionality fails during initial launches, requiring manual workarounds
• When projects make simple tasks more complicated for end users

These aren’t isolated incidents. They represent systemic patterns in how large digital transformation projects unfold, particularly in government and enterprise environments.

Most painfully, there’s often that moment when you realise you’re designing experiences that make life harder for users rather than easier.

I once spent months working on a system that required computer-illiterate users to master complex digital skills, when they were perfectly capable of completing the task efficiently using paper forms.

I remember sitting in a meeting watching a demonstration of this system, thinking, “We’re about to make thousands of people’s lives unnecessarily difficult, and I can’t stop it.”

That feeling of powerless witnessing haunts many professionals who’ve worked on failed projects.

Mental health impacts of working on doomed projects

The psychological toll of project failure follows a predictable pattern:

1. Anticipatory anxiety – You begin noticing warning signs before others acknowledge them
2. Powerless witnessing – You can see the project failure coming but lack the authority to change course
3. Public shaming – When projects become public punching bags, you experience vicarious shame
4. Imposter syndrome amplification – Even when you know your contribution was solid, you question your competence
5. Defensive explanation fatigue – You repeatedly explain your role in interviews and networking events

One content designer who worked on another failed project told me she developed panic attacks before presenting her portfolio in interviews.

“I dreaded the moment they’d ask about that project,” she said. “I felt tainted by association with the project failure.”

How to protect your career during a failing project

Having weathered several project disasters, I’ve developed strategies that help maintain both sanity and professional reputation:

1. Document your specific contributions
   Keep clear records of your deliverables, positive feedback and metrics related to your specific responsibilities. These become invaluable when updating your CV or discussing the project in interviews.

   “I maintain a ‘success journal’ for every project,” a UX designer colleague told me. “Even when the overall digital transformation failed, I could point to specific user journeys where my work improved completion rates by 63%.”

2. Establish clear boundaries of responsibility
   Know what you can control and what you can’t. Communicate these boundaries professionally in status updates and team meetings. This creates a record of your professional judgement.
3. Build a support network outside the project
   Connect with other professionals who’ve weathered similar situations. This shared understanding provides essential emotional ballast during difficult projects and helps maintain perspective. I’m a member of a Slack channel for content designers and strategists, for example. But there are lots of other support communities too.
4. Develop your exit criteria
   Establish personal red lines that would trigger your departure, such as being asked to mislead users, ignore accessibility requirements or witness unethical practices. Having these defined in advance makes difficult decisions clearer.

Presenting failed projects on your CV and in interviews

Your CV doesn’t need to highlight project failures, but it should accurately represent your contributions. Here’s how to handle this delicate balance:

Instead of: “Led content design for failed government service”

Try: “Developed plain language guidance for complex eligibility requirements, achieving 92% user comprehension rate in testing despite challenging technical constraints”.

In interviews, acknowledge reality while maintaining perspective: “Yes, there were well-documented challenges with the overall programme, but my team’s contribution received positive user feedback and several of our approaches were incorporated into the subsequent redesign”.

For years, I avoided mentioning certain projects in my portfolio until I developed the confidence to reframe them properly. Now I find they often become the most interesting discussion points in professional conversations – not for the failure itself, but for what it reveals about my resilience and problem-solving approach.

How project failure can actually strengthen your career

The greatest irony is that troubled projects often provide the richest professional development. Working within dysfunctional systems forces you to develop:

• Diplomatic communication under pressure
• Rapid problem-solving when systems fail
• The ability to maintain quality despite constraints
• Resilience in the face of setbacks

I sometimes tell people that my most valuable professional skill – the ability to write crystal clear content under impossible deadlines while navigating competing stakeholder demands – was forged entirely in the fires of projects that later imploded.

These experiences, painful as they were, created capabilities I couldn’t have developed in more functional environments.

Breaking the silence about project failure

The culture of silence around project failure particularly harms careers. When we pretend these experiences don’t happen or that they shouldn’t affect us personally, we create isolation precisely when support is most needed.

By sharing these experiences thoughtfully, we help others who will inevitably face similar situations. The next generation of professionals needs honest accounts of how to navigate these waters with both professional integrity and personal wellbeing intact.

Perhaps most importantly, these conversations help us remember that our professional worth isn’t defined by the success of projects we couldn’t control. It’s defined by the quality, integrity and compassion we bring to our work, regardless of outcome.

Because in the end, that’s what distinguishes us as professionals in systems that too often prioritise everything but the human beings they’re meant to serve.

And if we can laugh about our experiences with failed projects along the way – even if that laughter sometimes catches in our throat – so much the better.