THE OPERATING CODE | 000.1

INTRODUCTION

Not everyone needs an introduction.

If you want to go straight to the Operating Code or the career stories, do it. They are written to stand on their own.

But if you want to know what you're looking at and how I hope people use it, this is for you.

A lot of experienced people will read something here and think, “I already know that.”

Good. You probably do.

Not everybody has had the same experiences, the same mentors, the same responsibilities, or the same opportunities to learn. Someone else may read the exact same chapter and find one sentence that helps them handle a problem differently tomorrow.

Maybe you're a foreman trying to become a better leader. Maybe you're a superintendent or manager developing somebody on your crew. Maybe there's one chapter you want your foreman to read. Maybe you're an experienced leader who wants to compare how somebody else approaches the same problem.

There are a lot of ways this can be useful.

I'm not trying to sell you anything, and I'm not trying to convince you that my way is the only way. Everything here is free to read.

These are real experiences, real problems, real solutions, mistakes, lessons, and thought processes from a career-built working, mentoring, teaching, leading, and managing.

You don't have to agree with everything.

Take what is useful. Challenge what isn't. Compare it against your own experience.

If one chapter, one career story, or even one sentence helps somebody become more efficient, make a better decision, become a better leader or manager, develop someone on their crew, or avoid learning a lesson the hard way, then putting it into words was worth doing.

There is another purpose too.

A list of projects, positions, and accomplishments can tell you what someone has done. It doesn't always show you how they think.

This can.

How I see the work. How I approach problems. How I develop people. How I evaluate risk. How I make decisions. How I manage operations.

That's part of what I'm documenting here too—not just what I've done, but the thinking behind how I've done it.

If there's a chapter or career story here that would be useful to your crew, company, or someone you're developing and you'd like a PDF copy, use the Contact page and tell me which one. I'll send it to you.

No subscription. No sales pitch.

Just something useful you can put in somebody's hands.