Used to feel this way on other teams. Almost as if you were expected to write them for the sake of writing them (cargo cult engineering).
Now on a team of many OG Googlers (15+ years tenure) and Design Docs only exist when they’re needed (something that touches multiple systems, something that’s obviously complicated with many trade offs, etc) Otherwise it’s just “write the CLS.”
> Now on a team of many OG Googlers (15+ years tenure) and Design Docs only exist when they’re needed
This almost certainly has nothing to do with the team or tenure, but everything to do with what levels they are(n't) trying to get promoted to. Have you controlled for that and still seen a distinction?
Now on a team of many OG Googlers (15+ years tenure) and Design Docs only exist when they’re needed (something that touches multiple systems, something that’s obviously complicated with many trade offs, etc) Otherwise it’s just “write the CLS.”