I've never experienced a situation where a software design document meaningfully improved the overall process. At best, it helps to keep the business in sync at the expense of a much longer delivery timetable. Even high level software delivery contracts never seem to stay on rails for very long.
It is often faster to just build the damn thing and see where it lands. Software is not like a nuclear power plant or offshore oil platform. You do not need to prove a whole lot of things in advance of construction. No one actually has to give you permission to do anything. You can email a link of a vertical slice prototype to the business whenever you feel like it. That can be the "design document".
It is often faster to just build the damn thing and see where it lands. Software is not like a nuclear power plant or offshore oil platform. You do not need to prove a whole lot of things in advance of construction. No one actually has to give you permission to do anything. You can email a link of a vertical slice prototype to the business whenever you feel like it. That can be the "design document".