For a minute lets imagine -
You want to buy house, you got very knowledgeable realtor. He phone you about one house, next day you visit that house. Realtor waiting for you. He opened door, welcome you & give you small booklet about house, give house plan, tell you that he gonna wait in drawing room & you can check house yourself. You can ask him questions while checking house or after you complete your inspection. You done your inspection, maybe have some questions, maybe you took pictures. Now you back he told you there is one more house. Its weekend, you have time so you go to see that new house. Here he open house, show you kitchen, bedroom & every room. Tell you what things are new, whats upgraded etc. While inspecting kitchen you wanted to know about appliances life. He don't know about that & but he will check & let you know by tomorrow.
You come back home & comparing both houses. Which house you know better ?
Since childhood we been train in this way. We had books but teachers thought us those books. Reading & understanding is not as natural as understanding when someone narrate that.
If all this is true then why new developer join team, we give him documents, git repo links & day/week to figure out by himself. Team should have buddy-system. When someone joins team, assign other person from team as his buddy. Buddy is someone who is in team for some time. He is not there to know answer to every question, but he is there to navigate new joiner to find those answer, he may know whom to poke for answer, where you search for answers.
The buddy system transforms the on-boarding process from a solo expedition to a dynamic collaboration. It's not just about finding the right answers; it's about asking the right questions, sharing insights, and building a connection with the collective knowledge of the team.