Playwright is an automation tool that can carry out any browser-based action consistently and robustly, but hard waits in scripts can lead to brittle tests, slow tests, and a frustrating experience. Hard waits are problematic because they can cause false positives and wasted time, especially when combined with retry policies. This can result in missed SLAs and increased maintenance costs. Instead of using hard waits, developers should use automatic retries and wait for elements based on ARIA roles or other reliable criteria.