Most of my initial tactics are among the following list. Some are more appropriate to one or the other type new tech, frameworks vs. languages. Some are more easily accomplished, depending on the nature of the existing population of adopters.
- I visit the project home site and read the docs.
- I read books.
- I check out online forums for the new framework/language, looking for friendliness toward and acceptance of newbies, general support, and Q&A responsiveness.
- For frameworks, I look for project bug lists and commit bandwidth.
- I search for articles that compare and contrast the new thing with something I already know.
- I locate pro/con presentations.
- I check locally to identify any existing in-house expertise - just 'cuz the tech is new to the shop in general doesn't mean it's new to everyone in the shop.