Exactly. To me a Potemkin village is one or two steps further away from reality. The Potemkin village is unoccupied and has no potential for occupation. All involved in its construction know it's fake.
My team was sincere, worked hard, and definitely got some good stuff done. Just not nearly as much as we wanted.
Same thing then. In the metaphor, the buildings' only purpose and only outcome is to fool. One of our purposes was to get things done. And we definitely had some impact. If the public/regulatory pressure stayed constant, we would have gotten some more done. We would also have gotten more done if executives had taken it more seriously, of course.
My team was sincere, worked hard, and definitely got some good stuff done. Just not nearly as much as we wanted.