The full title The Art and Science of Accurate Estimating says everything. To accurate estimate is a combination of art and science. To a new PM, it is a science to follow existing method or path to do project management. However it is an art to master project management.
Almost everyone (no matter you are a PM or not) has similar experience like being asked how much time you need to accomplish some tasks in a 30-second meet with boss. And almost everyone will try to squeeze a date and reply with it. That is so-called "Ballparks in elevators" estimation. When it may not be a good idea to NOT answer boss's question, author suggests to double and double the time OR throws ball back to boss to ask details. Either one will work just a little bit better than nothing. The best way is avoid to answer the question at all.
When a company has done "enough" projects before, the "Parametric estimation" helps by using finished projects as reference to do a more accurate estimation.
Beside PM and who implement project, actually every stakeholders should be responsible for accurate estimates.
In Tynet, Inc, case study, Tynet improves their project performance by adopting phased estimating method. By adding more defined phases and interactivity with customers, Tynet can reduce the chance projects fail later. In short term, more activities may seems increasing "time to finish", it really reduce risk to fail dramatically.
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