[dvfjsdhgfv]

> I imagine most won’t be able to even begin without spending a lot of time studying the subject matter.

And that's the correct approach. Whenever I pick a task, I make sure I either know the matter in question or need to study it - in which case I inform my co-workers and especially the Tech Lead this needs to be taken into account.

Frankly, even if it was an internal piece of software used just by a few hundred/thousand people, I would be ashamed of doing it this way because I would be afraid it could have negative impact on my career in this organization.