There are seven practices that we've found work well for individuals and teams running CI on a project.
<ul><li> <p>Commit code frequently</p> </li><li> <p>Don't commit broken code</p> </li><li> <p>Fix broken builds immediately</p> </li><li> <p>Write automated developer tests</p> </li><li> <p>All tests and inspections must pass</p> </li><li> <p>Run private builds</p> </li><li> <p>Avoid getting broken code</p></li></ul><em>From http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-2007/jw-06-awci.html?page=3</em>