I think the design doc still has some value after it has been created. For me it almost acts like a checklist of things to be completed, and it's nice to have i

I think the design doc still has some value after it has been created. For me it almost acts like a checklist of things to be completed, and it's nice to have it in one place in bite-sized bits. My design docs will also have links to external resources and it's nice to have them in one place so I don't have to track them down later. But I 100% agree that the majority of the value is gained in the writing of the design doc, and the decisions/tradeoffs that have to be thought through during that process. Which is why I strongly push back against suggestions of using AI to write design docs. Since delegating the writing to AI causes over half the value of the design doc to be lost.