Many happy returns, Mary McKinlay

Mary McKinlay, one of the trailblazers of the project profession and the first female Fellow of Association for Project Management (APM), celebrated her 80^th birthday on 18 February.

As part of our series of articles on Women in Projects, we spoke with Mary about her career and how her profession has evolved over the years.

Mary McKinlay is an award-winning project expert who has not only blazed a trail for women in project and programme management, but also helped grow the profession’s understanding of what constitutes a project.

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Mary – though officially retired – remains active in the world of projects as a consultant and advocate. She also works with schools to encourage young people to pursue STEM careers.

She celebrated her 80^th birthday on Saturday, 18 February in her local pub with family, friends and colleagues.

Mary has had a lifelong interest in engineering and technology. One of her fondest childhood memories was helping her father work on his car. As a teenager, she chose to study science at A-Level but was unable to do so at her all-girls school due to it not having the necessary facilities. Instead, she had to study at the boy’s sixth-form.

“I had to get used to being the odd one out,” she recalled. “It was quite funny because my dad was an old boy at that school and he found it very amusing that his daughter was also an old boy there, too.”

Later, Mary enrolled to study biochemistry at Chelsea College. It didn’t take her long to opt out and start a new path with the Open University. While studying for her OU degree, Mary came across a course in systems thinking, which she was inspired to apply to project management.

After gaining her degree, Mary began working for GEC Marconi in Rochester in 1978. The rest, as they say, is history.

Starting out in a technology role, Mary was quickly assigned to a team working on the iconic Tornado combat aircraft. She became inspired to enhance the management and delivery of projects at GEC Marconi and was encouraged by the organisation’s chairman, Lord Weinstock, to establish an internal programme dedicated to project improvement, with Mary becoming one of their troubleshooters.

Mary said: “I ended up working on projects throughout the company, travelling all over the UK. Different parts of the business would call me up and ask for help.

“The Tornado project was particularly exciting. I remember one day flying in the company aircraft from Rochester to Norwich. We detoured to another RAF base to deliver some parts. While we were delivering them, there were three Tornadoes parked on the runway waiting to take off. Up until then, I hadn’t seen my aircraft fly. They took off and I was in tears. That was six or seven years of my life in those planes. It was incredible to see.”

During her time with GEC Marconi, Mary also worked on projects that contributed to the building of UK submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as power stations in India. As GEC Marconi transitioned to become part of BAE systems, Mary continued to work for the organisation for many more years.

She first joined APM in the 1990s, eventually becoming a member of APM’s Council (prior to APM’s present-day board structure) and representing the organisation on the International Project Management Association (IPMA).

She was awarded Honorary Fellowship of APM in 2015 and Honorary Fellowship of IPMA in 2018.

 

The changing world of projects

Recalling the early days of her career, Mary said that being a woman never posed any serious barriers. She admitted, however, that she did feel driven to be especially meticulous in her work, as she worried that any errors would be erroneously attributed to her gender.

She said: “Overall, it was a great place to work. People were very nice with me. There were only two or three female engineers in the entire organisation, so of course I did feel conspicuous. But I never found it to be a problem.”

One area where Mary felt greater representation was needed in those days was within the scope of the project profession itself, as most of the knowledge and resources available at that time were intended for people working on construction projects.

“I found the profession to be more exclusive towards people who weren’t involved in construction,” she recalled. “The APM Body of Knowledge was very focused on that industry back then. Now we know that project management is a transferable skill that can be used – and is used – in all industries. APM has evolved to reflect that over the years.

“If you look at APM’s Board of Trustees today, there are more women than men. When I was on APM’s Council – as it was then – I was the only female member, so there has definitely been positive change in the profession over the years in the way it has opened up and become accessible to more people. I hope that continues.”