How to efficiently / effectively learn a brand new industry or topic?

I agree with a lot of what others have said - a great way to learn a new industry is to speak with an expert who can give you a 101 lowdown on the industry and answer the specific questions that you have. Often consulting firms have budget in the project to do this or their own internal resources. 

If this isn't an option then you'll want to tackle the learning from a number of sources:

1. Reach out to people in the company you're in and ask them for a teach-in

2. Look for any industry-specific journals / online news sites / blogs 

3. Get on twitter - honestly - and follow people who tweet about the industry 

4. Just a good old google can get you quite far

Good luck! 

My suggestion is to do three things:

1. Try to build a mindmap or an issue tree on the topic you want to lear
2. Study some relevant material about the subject
3. Speak with experts on the sujbect

Between each step, you should review your issue tree/mindmap.

Hi there,

1) A coach can give you a full deep-dive/debrief on an industry in 20-30 minutes. I often do this with my candidates if they are struggling with an industry. Often all you need is a 20-30 min run-down

2) You can book a session with a non-coach expert

3) Google

4) Youtube

5) Investopedia

6) Primerli

7) Your peers at the company

8) The company's online portal

9) A company paid expert (you can often book these in in the 1st week or 2 of a project)

(edited)

The easiest way to learn about a new industry or topic is by locking in a session with a Subject Matter Expert. Strong experts are able to summarize the key findings you're looking for without overwhelming you with details. They can also adapt the style and technicality based on your current level of knowledge.

Whenever having to learn an analyze a new market or industry, it helped me a great deal to first get an understanding of the underlying value chain. I would try to create a chart for myself that showed the relevant value chain steps (and sub-steps if applicable) and highlighted key market players and their participation along the value chain. I would also want to understand the power dynamics in terms of who the deciders/influencers are and how the players generally interact along the value chain. There may be different value chains for different products/services of course.

Based on that, I could more easily do deep dives where needed, analyze overall industry trends with better context and “form a view”. 

Consulting firms have internal databases where a lot of such “industry know-how” is usually stored. So before re-inventing the wheel, it's always good to check what's available. 

When you are talking about learning new functional topics, it's good to look at old project examples and general concept roadmaps (what is the sequence of steps that needs to be taken during the process?). Reach out to colleagues who have worked in that field before and ask them for a brief voiceover and some guidance for follow-up