Well I can also tell you that from years of trying to go straight to documentation: you rarely learn anything. Often the docs are written badly and missing usage examples, so it's unclear how certain options work. Often the tool you're having trouble with is one you only use once a month so by the next time you use it you've forgotten everything you learned.

Speaking from my experience, in most cases it's just not worth it. In the few cases where it's something you use every day, then sure invest some time in the docs.