The Key to achieving sustainable performance: The Maximal Hour vs The Optimal Hour

Musekiwa Samuriwo
4 min readFeb 10, 2023

An important lesson in productivity and performance is the difference between maximal and optimal. It’s easy to use these words synonymously but there can be a difference. Maximal Hour refers to the greatest amount of time available for a task e.g. 40 minutes of productivity. While the optimal hour is the best or most favourable amount of time available to perform e.g. 25 minutes of productivity. Business is generally a goal-oriented space and so businesses tend to push for their maximum productive time every day.

On the surface, this looks great even for the bottom line, but people, resources and money cannot be utilized at the maximal hour without consequences and negative repercussions. For example, you can ramp up production from day 1 or hour 1 in the morning at maximal levels with the expectation to maintain that level of productivity throughout the day, week or month. Eventually, something will give and performance and motivation dissipate. Instead, a business can start and continue producing at the optimal hour i.e. the most effective productive level from a performance perspective. This is where resources, machinery, money and people are all adequately positioned to deliver the desired results.

How do we find the optimal hour?

By finding the ideal ways to minimize wasted energy and effort. In business as with other aspects of life we learn by trying out something, making mistakes and then making corrective actions. It’s a natural and cybernetic function. If you touch a hot stove with your fingers and get burned, the next time you will find some way to check how hot the plate is without using your fingers.

What is helpful at times is to focus on simulated training and learning i.e. improving skills and craft in a more controlled environment. This is achieved by understanding and appreciating optimal capacity utilization. What is the right level of productivity (quality of effort + quantity of output)?

SAIKU approach www.afrikanknight.co.zw/Saiku.html

The most common reason for derailed productivity is unscheduled downtime and unnecessary interruptions. There is a way to help a business identify productivity weaknesses, skills gaps or tactical limitations, which can lead to unplanned downtime overuse or breakdowns? A Practical performance screening (e.g. the Saiku Approach) identifies poor patterns and compensations. Most downtimes and interruptions are caused by over-performance when certain aspects of the business get overworked.

By identifying which resources, machines or people that are actually working versus those that should be working, we can address those issues before they develop into unplanned downtime. In other words, Practical Performance Screening (PPS), can help tell you which resources are working well and which ones need to improve. Performance Screenings can help an organisation determine the optimum production levels that deliver profits sustainably.

The max test or Machine hour capacity is another resource that can help a business determine the maximal hour level when planning. A max test answers the age-old question, “How hard should we be working?” by providing a business’ unique performance profile. It tells us where the business is doing well and where we can improve. In the same vein, the machine hour capacity relates to the number of hours an employee can make use of all the machines available to them as calculated below.

Machine hour capacity = number of usable machines x hours employees can use machines

Additionally, this contributes to a productivity equation which helps to determine the optimal hour and desired productivity hours

Productive Hours = Targeted Output (units) / hours of operation

Optimizing performance intensity levels can extricate a lot of the “redundant” performance that litters schedules. Why guesstimate your optimal hour when a Max test or Machine Hour Capacity can give you the performance rate zones based on the business’ capacity and constraints? The search is for the optimal hour that achieves desired results without over-exerting resources, people or cash flows.

The goal is positioned down a long multifunctional and multi-departmental funnel leading towards the bottom line, and businesses must minimize interruptions to achieve optimum performance, at the optimal hour to reach it.

Saiku Balance

The optimal phrase would be, “Work smarter, not harder.” This truism works if the optimal hour can be established. Too many businesses have experienced burnout, too many downtimes and unplanned interruptions by overexerting and overusing resources and pushing for maximal effort. You will experience more productivity, performance, and rewarding business activities by finding your optimal hour.

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Musekiwa Samuriwo
Musekiwa Samuriwo

Written by Musekiwa Samuriwo

Love writing about life and anything inspirational. I try to live forward.