I understand they time the exhaust primary lengths so that the next cylinder to open does so into low pressure, to get the most stale gas out of the cylinder possible enabling the most fresh gas possible to come back in later. However since the speed of the pressure waves is somewhat fixed and the speed of the engine cycles vary greatly the lengths chosen only work over a narrow rpm band. Where you decide to put this band during the design phase depends on what you’re optimising the engine for.