When Is the Right Time?(And Why We Sometimes Run in Parallel Anyway)

Joel Larson, PhD
Jan 14
2 min read

In higher education, “When is the right time?” is almost never a scheduling question.

It’s a risk question.

Because there is no empty week on a campus. There is no moment when nothing matters. And there is no change that doesn’t outlive the maintenance window it happens in.

The Illusion of the Perfect Window

We’re often told to:

wait until between terms
wait until summer
wait until after finals
wait until “things slow down”

But those moments are illusions.

Students are still learning. Faculty are still teaching. Systems are still being used (often more heavily by the students with the fewest alternatives)

So the real question becomes:

If something goes wrong, how long can we live with it?

That’s when time stops being linear — and starts being… a little wibbly-wobbly.

Enter: Running in Parallel

Running systems in parallel is often the answer to that discomfort.

It lets us:

test without committing
validate without burning bridges
recover without waiting months for permission

But parallel comes at a cost:

duplicate hardware
extra optics and adapters
overlapping licenses
more staff time
more complexity

From the outside, it looks inefficient. From the inside, it’s buying options.

The Tradeoff Nobody Sees

Here’s the part that’s rarely said out loud:

Running in parallel doesn’t make change safer. It makes recovery possible.

Because in higher education:

maintenance windows may be far apart
governance cycles are long
the next “approved” attempt may be a semester away

A failed hard cutover isn’t just a technical problem; it becomes an institutional memory problem.

Parallel operation is how teams avoid turning one night of risk into months of regret.

But Parallel Has Its Own Time Problem

Here’s the twist.

Parallel systems can hide what you’ve missed.

The old system keeps quietly doing the work:

the forgotten configuration
the undocumented exception
the edge case no one remembered

Everything looks fine… until the old system is turned off.

Which means the riskiest moment often isn’t the change itself it’s the first moment the legacy system is truly gone.

That discovery might happen:

after the window closes
after leadership believes the risk is behind them
after the calendar says “we’re done”

And now time stretches again.

So… When Is the Right Time?

In higher education, the right time isn’t defined by the calendar.

It’s defined by:

how easily you can back out
how quickly you can try again
how much trust you lose if you can’t

That’s why decisions feel slow.

That’s why pilots are cautious.

That’s why parallel sometimes costs more.

Because time here isn’t about speed.

It’s about recoverability.

This Is Why Time Works Differently Here

Higher education doesn’t run on a single clock.

It runs on:

academic time
budget time
governance time
student time
institutional memory

Those clocks don’t tick together. And when you ignore that time has a way of reminding you.

Usually at 2 a.m.

After the old system goes dark.

It’s not slow. It’s just a little wibbly-wobbly… and very, very aware of consequences.