Jerks about to operate game plan (7)
I believe the answer is:
tactics
'game plan' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'jerks about to operate' is the wordplay.
'jerks' becomes 'tics'.
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'to operate' becomes 'act' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tics' placed around 'act' is 'TACTICS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tactics that I've seen before include "Short-term strategy" , "Plans" , "Military skill" , "Ploys" , "Art of organising battle" .)