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project aardvark

Watched the Project Aardvark documentary this week-end which if you are not familiar with it is a documentary about the full project lifecycle (almost) of a software product. Being a pretty avid Joel fan I pre-ordered the DVD and recieved my copy last week. I wasn't really sure what the doc was going to be like, but it didn't really turn out as I expected at all. All things considered it was done pretty well coming from some software engineer's, and the filmmaking help of Boondoggle Films, but I wouldn't say it was the most eye opening documentary either. Now I'm a software engineer myself (or I try to be), so maybe it would be more informative for someone that isn't in the industry. On the other hand I did watch most of the movie with my roomates woman who has absolutely no affiliation with the software industry, and we exchanged many confused looks as the movie progressed. I'm not going to bash the movie, as I really think the idea of making a documentary about 4 interns writing a product from start to finish is a great idea. However images of tomato plants growing on the 19th floor of a midtown office, and strange out of context transitions into interviews with other well known software heavy-weights such as Paul Graham seem to be the only things that stick out in my mind about the movie. I really didn't feel that the environment of working on a software product was captured. There was a point in the movie where one of the interns was speaking about a bug they had found, and the process of who's code it was residing in turned into an argument; that would have been a great interaction to show. I wanted more images of the teamwork involved in the project, more of the guts of everyday work. This could possibly inspire some other pieces on the subject, and I am definitely thinking about my own ideas for a version in my own style.