In a world where green field projects are far and few between our job very often consists of understanding a system someone else has written. Getting thrown into a large system with a complex architecture can be a daunting task. Usually there are developers to talk to or documentation to read, but sometimes none of those exist. Where do you begin when trying to learn about a new system? Which activities can provide valuable insights that you otherwise won’t discover until much later.

This talk will outline some concrete practical strategies I have found useful when being thrown into different systems built by others.