Gamasutra has recently published an excellent beginners article from Mark Mencher, founder of GameRecruiter.com and formerly of Microprose, 3DO and Spectrum Halobyte. In it, he introduces the role of games producer and covers quite a bit of what is needed to actually gain the position of games producer and the qualities needed to be an effective games producer / project manager.

So you want to be a producer @ Gamasutra | GameRecruiter.com