It is easy to be perfect on paper, defining the importance of a solid set of Javadocs and unit tests. However, the real world on its best days is chaotic. Project momentum, motivated by the need to deliver, is an elusive force to push back against.
Related to project momentum is the potential of groupthink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink) by the project team or resource owners. If the team has the wrong collective attitude, as a quality assurance professional it is much harder to inject hard-learned realism. Quality assurance is not only about finding and capturing defects as early as possible, it is also about injecting objective criteria for success or failure into the different phases of a project's cycle.
Consider adding measurable criteria into the Jenkins build. Obviously, if the code fails to compile, then the product should not go to acceptance...