What is the purpose of a Game Design Document (GDD)? Well for me it is about a base structure to go by. The GDD is not every single aspect of the game rigidly in place but rather a good basis to build from and tool to guide the creation process. This way you can take ideas and list them so all parties can be in the same page, especially if changes occur to the design (and they will occur). If you are like me and have 9000 things going on at once you can't keep track of everything in your head. It is crucial to keep the GDD updated so developers can have all team members refer to this and be on the same wavelength. Especially if you work on a game with a very large group, a GDD will help with organization and future planning. Of course there will be some instances that may not require a GDD but having one is usually better than not. Just make sure you don't put too much effort into documentation rather than development, to work out the fine details. Remember the final product is the game and not the paperwork.
The idea of a GDD can apply to any type of game design. With the board game idea, posted below, a GDD will help me along the creation process from basic design of the pieces, cards and to the overall rule playset. Even outside of the world of games companies have similar documents. In the field of cellular phones, I have an online reference tool to help in working with customers. So the concept of guidelines should not be foreign to most people. Now being lazy and not wanting to do it is your choice, but the lack of a GDD could lead to wasted development time and resources. Just take the time in the beginning to get a GDD created, maintain one throughout the creation process and the results will speak for themselves.
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