> But absence of problems is not it.

i disagree, think about what defines a problem. Not being maintenable, readable, performant etc could be problems or may not be depending on the software requirments.

> Occasionally you'll be prepared for hardships that never occur.

this over-engineering and just as bad as failing to meet a requirement, you're wasting resources that could be spent on something else. In fact, meeting the requirements and only the requirements is requirement #1 ;)