We have had a lot of problems while working on this project.
We had had a lot of problems while working on this project.
I just want to clarify that the first sentence means that we are still working on the project, and the second means that we don't work on the project anymore. Is that correct? How do you understand these sentences?
The first sentence sounds awkward to me as it is, or as if it is incomplete. If I wanted to mean that we have had problems working on the project up to this point, and that we are still working on it, I would say:
We have had a lot of problems working on this project so far
The second sentence clearly has the sense that the project is finished, and more than that, that the project finished some time ago, and that you are now reminiscing (thinking back to it).
