The name of this congress — the European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering — carries an implicit but overlooked commitment: that the methods we develop must serve real-world applications. In Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO), this linkage between research and practical impact is too often a poorly executed afterthought or a solution searching for a problem. As the community advances scalable algorithms, adjoint-enabled frameworks, and data-driven techniques, a critical question persists: Are we optimizing the right objective function? Academia rewards novelty — a significant, original contribution. While necessary, this can conflict with engineering practice. We ought not reinvent the wheel but reinvent its usage. Consider NASA’s precursor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and its four-digit airfoil series: Aerodynamic theory was established before NACA’s work in the 1930s. NACA contributed not new physics, but a methodical characterization and accessible parameterization that enabled any engineer to select the right airfoil without being an aerodynamicist. Evolutionary work that proved revolutionary — transforming aircraft design from art to engineering discipline. MDAO faces an analogous challenge: Our algorithmic foundations are mature, yet industrial adoption remains elusive. This keynote argues that MDAO researchers should reframe their expertise as equal parts technical researcher and user experience (UX) architect. How will a non-expert interact with this tool? What problem does it solve, and for whom? Have we identified a real need, or developed a capability now searching for applications? We should maximize the partial derivative of real-world impact with respect to research effort. Knowing what we are doing is necessary but not sufficient; it must be coupled with a compelling articulation of why we are doing it. Drawing on experience managing distributed MDAO teams across NASA — spanning framework development, uncertainty quantification, and conceptual aircraft design — this talk examines how thoughtful application selection, stakeholder engagement, and accessible tool design amplify the impact of MDAO research.