A client I worked with recently had a very astute characterization of Continuous Integration. I will paraphrase it as “CI is a reflection of reality”. He was referring to the immediate feedback you receive from a successful or failed integration build. Using a single source (your version control repository), you’re able to quickly determine if any of your recent changes “played well with others”. Not tomorrow, not two weeks from now, but immediately after a change is made. It reminds me of something Bill Cosby used to say in one of his stand-up routines when someone mentioned they liked using cocaine because it “…intensifies your personality”. Cosby’s response was “Yes, but what if you’re an a**hole?”. CI provides you with a mirror of your software under development. It’s not the fault of CI if it comes back and tells you your code is not working as intended. If fact, you should embrace it before it tells you it’s ugly.