" I conceived, designed and implemented a compelling prototype for it almost single-handedly, and then wrote a fair percentage of the production ......but that's pretty much as far as it goes."
For only the circles editor. His point is that he had very little to do with the rest of Google+ and nothing to do with the rest of Google's redesigns. He's still taking credit for the significant work he did on Circles, as he should.
"I conceived, designed and implemented a compelling prototype for it almost single-handedly, and then wrote a fair percentage of the production (...)"
I do this all the time, and have done it many times in the past. For some folks, it's really not a big deal, and not even rare/uncommon. Some people are idea rabbits and can spew out architecture/code, new products, etc. Some can't. Some are shades of grey.
Also, I'd rather see people be honest about the things they can do, than be dishonest about what they can't.