FOR CONSTRUCTION PMS, SUPERINTENDENTS, APMS AND PROJECT ENGINEERS
You build the things that make the world run.
Let's do it better, together.
The Operator Program is a training community for the people who run the job. It's the training nobody gave you, and a crew to do it with.
I'm James O'Donoghue. I started in construction over 30 years ago. I built this from the program I wrote to train the PMs who worked for me, and I teach it myself.
What's inside
Most PMs and superintendents get promoted because they were good at the work. Then somebody hands them a contract, a schedule and a budget, and they learn the rest by getting burned.
Each lesson is a short video, a workbook and a tool you use on a live job that Monday.
Over 50 lessons
New ones open every week from the day you join.
The whole job
Contract to closeout, plus leadership. Every lesson is for every seat.
AI from zero
AI starts in the first week. I walk you through setup.
Live with me
A live Clinic and live office hours, both recorded. Bring a real problem from your job.
The tools, by seat
Every lesson and every tool is open to every member. Here's what each seat reaches for most.
Project managers
- One Page Contract Summary
- RFI Log
- Three Week Lookahead
- Change Event Log
Superintendents
- Daily Log
- Three Week Lookahead
- Daily Plan and Huddle Sheet
- Field Walk Card
APMs and project engineers
- Submittal Register
- RFI Log
- One Page Contract Summary
- Three Week Lookahead
- Every tool is a fillable PDF with an editable Word or Excel copy.
- Each tool opens with its lesson.
Day one
The Trust Stack lesson and its job audit, your first AI lesson, the rules for AI, and your first AI play.
Your week
The week's lessons
One on running the job. For the first 24 weeks, a second beside it on AI or leadership.
A Monday Move
One thing to do on your own job that week, with the tool that goes with it.
A live Clinic
One topic with me, live. Recorded for anyone on a job that day.
Office hours
Bring a real problem from a real job. Recorded too.
If a week gets away from you, do the Monday Move and nothing else.
No live sessions the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.
A crew to do it with
We're building the next generation of construction leaders, and it starts with a room of people who are excited about construction and want to get better at it. You read each other's posts, share the fixes you've already found, and back each other up.
Monday Move
Post the one move you're making on your job this week.
Friday proof
Post what you did and what happened. A miss counts. I name the proof worth reading and the help worth naming.
Answer one
Every week, answer one other member's post. If you've solved it, say how. If you haven't, ask a question that helps them think it through.
Ask the room
Bring a real problem from a real job, scrubbed.
Later on you review two other members' audits, and you can put one of your own jobs up for a Job Review in front of the room.
Three rules
- Scrub it before you share it. No owner, no job name, no contract language, no prices, no people's names.
- Bring real problems from a real job.
- Help the next one up. If you've solved it, say how.
The road
Six tracks take you through a job in the order it happens. Every seat takes all six.
Start right
Own the seat, contracts, the handoff, startup, drawings
The paper trail
Submittals, RFIs, hidden conditions, daily logs
Plan the work
Schedule and three week lookaheads
Money on the job
Budget, commitments, change, scope, billing and cash
Quality, safety and subs
Inspections, safety walks, sub accountability
Owners, risk and closeout
Owner reports, red job recovery, closeout
Alongside it
Leadership
Eight lessons built on the Trust Stack: truth told early, tough conversations, the next leader
Superintendent Path
Five lessons that go deeper on the field seat, from running the crew to general superintendent. Open to every member.
AI for the field
Ten lessons and 42 plays, each with practice paperwork to prove it on
It goes past the seat you're in.Run your job. Lead the people on it. Train the next one.
AI, with rules
- You start from zero: setup, a voice file, your standards and a reference file. Every quarter there's a live AI workshop where we build something for the job together.
- Then 42 plays tied to the lessons, from daily logs to a first pass on a contract. Each play opens with its lesson and comes with practice paperwork, so you prove it before you trust it with a real document.
- One lesson covers where AI gets it wrong and what never leaves your hands. Every play says whether it needs a company approved account. Half of them do.
Join the founding room
Lessons open Monday, November 2. Join free now and meet the room. Then it's $97 a month, locked for as long as you stay.
I'm taking 100 founding members. The first 100 build the room.
Join on Skool. Answer three quick questions and I let you in.
Join free nowNot on Skool yet? Hold your seat here
I write back with your seat number and the link to the room. There's nothing to pay now.
I use this to hold your seat and send your link. Nothing else.
Who teaches it
James O'Donoghue III
Profit follows people. Trust is the mechanism.
- Thirty years from the jobsite to the executive seat
- Operations executive: led 100+ people and grew a construction division 2.4x
- Took average project margin up more than fivefold across a multimillion dollar unit
- Built an AI collections workflow that brings in roughly 95 percent of receivables within 30 days
- Founder and CEO of a construction technology company
- Helped deliver one of the largest automated labs in the country, on time and under budget
- U.S. Army engineer diver and master instructor. Sturgis Medal as the Army's top engineer
- Author of the forthcoming book Profit Follows People
PMP · Certified EOS Integrator · MIT AI Executive Education · U.S. Army veteran
I teach it myself.
Questions
What does joining now cost?
Nothing. Join free now and meet the room. Lessons open November 2, and then it's $97 a month, locked for as long as you stay.
Who is it for?
Project managers, superintendents, APMs and project engineers at general contractors and specialty contractors.
I'm a superintendent. Is this built for PMs?
It's built for both. Every lesson and every tool is open to every member. The road covers the superintendent's work as much as the PM's: daily logs, lookaheads, inspections, safety walks and sub accountability. Five more lessons go deeper on the superintendent's seat.
What do I get on day one?
The Trust Stack lesson and its job audit, your first AI lesson, the rules for AI, and your first AI play. After that, new lessons open every week.
What if I'm on a job during a live session?
The live sessions are recorded and available on the platform.
What if a week gets away from me?
Do the Monday Move and nothing else. Lessons open from the day you join, so you can't fall behind anybody.
What if I've never used AI?
Good. You start from zero, and I walk you through setup.
Can I talk about my real jobs?
Rule one in the community: scrub it before you share it. No owner, no job name, no contract language, no prices, no people's names.
What if the 100 seats are gone?
I put you next on the list. If one comes open, it's yours at the founding price, and I tell you the same day.
Lead these teams?
Your best superintendent runs the job from memory. Your newest PM learned change orders by losing one.
Put your whole team in. Every tool is an editable file you can make your company standard. For five seats or more, I do a kickoff call with your team and I brief you at 60 days on what I'm seeing.
I'll ask who your newest PMs and superintendents are and who's training them now. Then I'll show you the first lesson's workbook and tool.