[BWStearns]

I am working on a large (for one person/me) project that requires a bunch of skills that I didn't have when I started, so I kind of made a dependency tree and I've done basically JIT learning as I go through the project. I had to learn how to design thing X, which requires learning tool A, then to fabricate thing X I had to learn skills Y and Z, which required etc. I also knew I had unknown unknowns so the tree expanded as I went. You learn all this new stuff and the todo list has gotten bigger!

For learning in any new-to-you large context without a structured curriculum it'll be a yak shaving adventure. But occasionally checking your to-learn list you'll realize that you _don't_ need some element you thought you did because you've found an alternate/easier path, so be on the lookout for opportunities to prune the dependency tree.

If you're self-teaching a big new subject area you're going to encounter unknown unknowns and your objectives will change while learning/doing, keep your plan evolving based on what you learn to keep moving forward.