> Designing != documenting design. At least at Google (where I work), a "design doc" is an iterative and interactive design proposal, including alternatives co

> Designing != documenting design. At least at Google (where I work), a "design doc" is an iterative and interactive design proposal, including alternatives considered and rationale for design choices made, not (just) documentation of what the design is. "Documentation" of the sort you describe is an almost entirely unrelated thing, again just speaking of Google.