diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-build-crates.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-build-crates.yml
index a5aa0c6d..4e92a54a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-build-crates.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-build-crates.yml
@@ -61,17 +61,18 @@ jobs:
       # This step is meant to dynamically create a JSON containing the values of each crate
       # available in this repo in the root directory. We use `cargo tree` to accomplish this task.
       #
-      # The result from `cargo tree` is then transform to JSON values between double quotes,
-      # and separated by commas, then added to a `crates.txt` and assigned to a $JSON_CRATES variable.
+      # The result from `cargo tree` is then sorted so the longest job (zebrad) runs first,
+      # transformed to JSON values between double quotes, and separated by commas,
+      # then added to a `crates.txt`.
       #
-      # A JSON object is created and assigned to a $MATRIX variable, which is use to create an output
-      # named `matrix`, which is then used as the input in following steps,
+      # A JSON object is created and assigned to a $MATRIX variable, which is use to create an
+      # output named `matrix`, which is then used as the input in following steps,
       # using ` ${{ fromJson(needs.matrix.outputs.matrix) }}`
       - id: set-matrix
         name: Dynamically build crates JSON
         run: |
           TEMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
-          echo "$(cargo tree --depth 0 --edges no-normal,no-dev,no-build,no-proc-macro --prefix none | cut -d ' ' -f1 | sed '/^$/d' | awk '{ printf "\"%s\",\n", $0 }' | sed '$ s/.$//')" > $TEMP_DIR/crates.txt
+          cargo tree --depth 0 --edges no-normal,no-dev,no-build,no-proc-macro --prefix none | cut -d ' ' -f1 | sed '/^$/d' | LC_ALL=C sort --reverse | awk '{ printf "\"%s\",\n", $0 }' | sed '$ s/.$//' > $TEMP_DIR/crates.txt
           MATRIX=$( (
             echo '{ "crate" : ['
             echo "$(cat $TEMP_DIR/crates.txt)"
@@ -104,8 +105,9 @@ jobs:
     # Some of these builds take more than 14GB disk space
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest-m
     strategy:
-      # avoid rate-limit errors by only launching a few of these jobs at a time
-      max-parallel: 2
+      # avoid rate-limit errors by only launching a few of these jobs at a time,
+      # but still finish in a similar time to the longest tests
+      max-parallel: 3
       fail-fast: true
       matrix: ${{ fromJson(needs.matrix.outputs.matrix) }}
 
@@ -127,21 +129,32 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y --default-toolchain=stable --profile=minimal
 
-        # We could use `features: ['', '--all-features', '--no-default-features']` as a matrix argument,
-        # but it's faster to run these commands sequentially, so they can re-use the local cargo cache.
-        #
-        # Some Zebra crates do not have any features, and most don't have any default features.
+      # We could use `features: ['', '--all-features', '--no-default-features']` as a matrix argument,
+      # but it's faster to run these commands sequentially, so they can re-use the local cargo cache.
+      #
+      # Some Zebra crates do not have any features, and most don't have any default features.
+      # Some targets activate features, but we still need to be able to build without them.
       - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with no default features
+        run: |
+          cargo clippy --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --no-default-features -- -D warnings
+          cargo build --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --no-default-features
+
+      - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with no default features and all targets
         run: |
           cargo clippy --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --no-default-features --all-targets -- -D warnings
           cargo build --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --no-default-features --all-targets
 
       - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with default features
+        run: |
+          cargo clippy --package ${{ matrix.crate }} -- -D warnings
+          cargo build --package ${{ matrix.crate }}
+
+      - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with default features and all targets
         run: |
           cargo clippy --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --all-targets -- -D warnings
           cargo build --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --all-targets
 
-      - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with all features
+      - name: Build ${{ matrix.crate }} crate with all features and all targets
         run: |
           cargo clippy --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --all-features --all-targets -- -D warnings
           cargo build --package ${{ matrix.crate }} --all-features --all-targets