When building a schedule do not use constraints to force activities to happen on certain dates! Instead use the relationships that link the activities to tell you when the activity will happen. If there is a date you need to make try revising your relationships to make the date possible.
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I think you are referring to Mandatory constraints, such as Must Start On, that override the calculations. This can really mess up the logic. It could, for example, result in an activity starting before its predecessor finishes.
That said, avoiding constraints altogether could result in, say paving in Omaha in the winter. Granted there are several ways the scheduler can “fool” the software, but a Start-No-Earlier Than constraint is, it seems to me, to be an acceptable solution.
Constraints can mask problems in the schedule. If you use a Start-No-Earlier Than constraint for the concrete pour you do not get the benefit of knowing when the earliest possible date that you can pour concrete is. Being able to start earlier can be a good or bad problem, but it is masked by the constraint.
I am not saying that you should never use constraints. Just proceed with caution when using constraints.