Tests should be designed to be deterministic and reliable to prevent wasted developer time and false confidence.

Two common causes of flakiness to avoid:

1. Time-based waits: Never rely on sleep() calls for synchronization. Instead, use condition-based waits: ```python

   Bad practice

   sleep(offload_secs + 1) # May fail if processing takes longer

Good practice

wait_until(lambda: check_if_lfc_content_appears_in_remote_storage(), timeout_seconds=10, message=”LFC content did not appear in remote storage”)

2. **Shared testing resources**: Use isolated resources for tests instead of shared ones:
```python
# Potentially flaky - using default database
def test_something(neon_simple_env: NeonEnv):
    conn = endpoint.connect()  # Connects to default 'postgres' database
    
# More reliable - using dedicated test database
def test_something(neon_simple_env: NeonEnv):
    conn = endpoint.connect(dbname=f"test_db_{uuid.uuid4()}")

Also, follow proper pytest patterns like using @pytest.mark.skipif decorators instead of early returns to clearly indicate test conditions and improve maintainability.