I've finisheda firstdraft of "How to be a Product Director." PDF, 17 pages (withpictures and screen shots and pull quotes and sidebars). Commentswelcome.

Some projects call it "the Customer."Others call it "the product owner." Somecall it "the goal donor." I and a few otherscall it the Product Director. Like a filmdirector, the product director is the oneperson with the clearest vision of the finalresult. But—like a film director—the roleisn't a passive one of "expressing the vision."It's an active role, one of pointingthe work of other people in a particular direction, evaluating the results, and adjusting thedirection based on the reality of what the last bout of work produced.

It's the hardest job on an Agile project.

The job revolves around four verbs: inform, observe, adjust, and represent.

The product director informs the programmersof what to do next by providing them with stories. [sidebar defining "story"] In order to estimate thecost of a story and implement it successfully,the programmers need:[...]