diff --git a/templates/meta.yaml b/templates/meta.yaml
index a1ddf214268a8a9f05f8a8be282ecf0741f044dc..4d500fbc17ec8d53f125acf42fd51ea74705bdd9 100644
--- a/templates/meta.yaml
+++ b/templates/meta.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {% set name = '<PACKAGE>' %}
+{% set project_dir = environ.get('RECIPE_DIR') + '/..' %}
 
 package:
   name: {{ name }}
@@ -8,11 +9,11 @@ build:
   <ENTRY_POINTS>
   number: {{ environ.get('BOB_BUILD_NUMBER', 0) }}
   script:
-    - cd {{ environ.get('CI_PROJECT_DIR', environ.get('RECIPE_DIR') + '/..') }}
+    - cd {{ project_dir }}
     {% if environ.get('BUILD_EGG') %}
     - python setup.py sdist --formats=zip
     {% endif %}
-    - pip install .
+    - pip install --verbose .
 
 requirements:
   build:
@@ -31,11 +32,8 @@ test:
   commands:
     <ENTRY_POINTS_TEST>
     - nosetests --with-coverage --cover-package={{ name }} -sv {{ name }}
-    # The sphinx commands will run only if "CI_PROJECT_DIR" is available as an
-    # environment variable. If you are testing locally, you can set it to the
-    # root of your project.
-    - sphinx-build -W {{ environ.get('CI_PROJECT_DIR') }}/doc {{ environ.get('CI_PROJECT_DIR') }}/sphinx
-    - sphinx-build -b doctest {{ environ.get('CI_PROJECT_DIR') }}/doc sphinx-test
+    - sphinx-build -W {{ project_dir }}/doc {{ project_dir }}/sphinx
+    - sphinx-build -b doctest {{ project_dir }}/doc sphinx
   requires:
     - nose
     - coverage