Maybe, maybe there was. In my experience when someone talks about how much better "it" used to be and how low we've all sunk these days, "it" never really was as good as they're saying. But maybe.
In any case though I live and work now, when companies who prioritize and support the work of creating and maintaining thorough reliable documentation are rare. So I plan my work for situations I can expect to encounter now, not ones that may have been once.
documentation is an ongoing process. You document your code before, during, and after you write it.
I don't understand how one can maintain a piece of code without it for more than a few months, even as a single person. One always forget things.
i also don't understand how one can design a piece of architecture without diagrams and maps and all kind of design documents. They are used both for clarity, as well as to discuss between team members. Then keeping them somewhere is also part of documenting the code.
It's not that I don't see it this way or don't value those things. It's that companies I work for haven't valued them. Doing this won't positively affect my evaluations, but taking time away from other work to do it well, will negatively affect them.
If the company would prefer to pay the long-term cost of having no or poor documentation than to pay me to do it now, that's up to them I guess. I take my own notes and go on with my life.
In any case though I live and work now, when companies who prioritize and support the work of creating and maintaining thorough reliable documentation are rare. So I plan my work for situations I can expect to encounter now, not ones that may have been once.