Four Kitchens: Why time is of the essence for a Drupal 11 migration

In terms of adding new tools or website features, moving to Drupal 11 doesn’t mean much for your organization. Drupal rolls out upgrades differently than conventional software platforms. Version 11 will seem a lot like Drupal 10.3 in terms of new functionality.

Instead, Drupal will be deprecating features to eliminate ‌unnecessary or outdated code from the core platform. For example, in moving from Drupal 9.5 to 10, the CKEditor 4 module was removed to make room for CKEditor 5. For Drupal 11, the Book module will be deprecated.

If your organization doesn’t use this feature, its subtraction amounts to a positive by eliminating unneeded weight to the platform. If you do, then Book will still function in a more nimble way as a contrib module.

Ultimately, your organization won’t see any new features from Drupal 11 until the release of the next version, Drupal 11.1. Does that mean you should wait until then to start planning a website upgrade? You guessed it — absolutely not.

The biggest benefit of planning your upgrade to Drupal 11 early is to avoid the scramble of a last-minute migration. This creates headaches for your team, and you also run into crowded schedules if you rely on a development partner. You don’t just run the risk of incurring unnecessary charges for trying to plan an upgrade at the last minute. You also risk limited availability as development agencies support other clients who also waited until the last minute.

Plus, planning to migrate to Drupal 11 now enables you to sidestep the complications of upgrading after 11.1 is released. Version 11.1 will include new features, and migrating across two versions will be more difficult, especially if you manage multiple websites.

Making the Drupal 11 move now gives you a leaner version of the platform while leaving you better positioned for 11.1. In all, your journey to Drupal 11.1 will be significantly faster and easier if you’ve already completed the migration to Drupal 11.

What stakeholders need to know about Drupal 11

As you plan an upgrade to Drupal 11, you need to keep your stakeholders informed about what to expect. Rather than getting bogged down with deprecations or other elements, you should frame the upgrade as a maintenance release.

In other words, the migration is primarily a way to improve your organization’s position going forward. Along with creating an easier path toward accessing the new features coming for 11.1, this update also will improve the performance and scalability of the platform for your websites.

Drupal 11 will be released in late July. Consequently, your organization has a long runway toward completing an upgrade. In fact, you have two years until version 10 reaches its end of life in mid- to late 2026.

While that sounds like an eternity from now, your organization has more options at its disposal for planning an upgrade the sooner you begin. With enough lead time, you could include much of the work of preparing for Drupal 11 as part of a Continuous Care program with Four Kitchens.

Depending on your subscription tier, you can allocate your hours differently to support the upgrade. Alternatively, you can plan to allocate additional hours to your tier to complete the upgrade. Or, you can upgrade to Drupal 11 as part of a standalone project separate from your Continuous Care engagement.

The point, ultimately, is to underscore that you have options. At Four Kitchens, we’re already working on our upgrade plan to guide our clients through a seamless transition to Drupal 11. By considering the right approach for your organization sooner rather than later, you can ensure you still have options for navigating this upgrade in a timely, efficient way.

If you’re ready to start planning, we should talk.