Debates on digital transformation in higher education often contrast technological infrastructure (“tools”) with faculty competence (“skills”), overlooking the structural role of time. This study examines faculty self-perceptions of digital competence to identify the primary constraint on post-pandemic pedagogical innovation. Using a triangulated design, the analysis combines a large SOULSS faculty census (N = 390), which reported moderate-to-high self-assessed digital skills alongside low advanced-tool adoption, with a targeted diagnostic probe conducted in 2025 (N = 18). Participants were asked to identify the single root cause of their online teaching difficulties: technological limitations, lack of pedagogical training, or insufficient preparation time. Results show that technology is largely not perceived as a barrier (7.1%). While 42.9% identify a need for pedagogical training, the most frequently cited constraint is lack of time (50%). Interpreted through the TPACK framework and human-capital theory, the findings suggest that the “tools vs. skills” dichotomy is misleading: time scarcity functions as the binding constraint. Effective digital pedagogy strategies must therefore combine targeted pedagogical training with explicit recognition of preparation time in institutional workload models.