The Planning and Team videos line up with the "Make Plans" section of The Playbook http://playbook.thoughtbot.com/getting-started/, which will frame the discussion - but the videos don't cover everything in the printed book and vice-versa.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://thoughtbot.com/upcase/videos/playbook-team
“The visionary is the one that says no the most”
How realistic is this? In my experience the visionary / client is the one with a lot of enthusiasm for more features and ideas. Lean methods / MVP are totally alien to them. Designers can tend to add extra features & nice ideas. It’s the developer who is most aware of the real cost of the ideas and has to remind people to stay lean.
I think what he’s doing is comparing a project manager as the visionary. If you’ve worked with a good project manager before you will know that he’s absolutely correct. They’re not technical but they work very closely with developers. They’re not designers but they work very closely with the designers. They have a vision and direction for the project and “sell” it to the rest of the team without adding extra features or functionality that takes away from the vision. I learned a lot from a great project manager I worked with who did indeed say no a lot - more than anyone else.