Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) has often been described in terms of children’s building blocks. However, the reality is that modular interfaces, while allowing for rapid integration, focus primarily on the interface points, and the modules themselves cannot be reduced merely to “blocks.” This challenge is mirrored in Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) terminology, where we reference some abstraction of a complex system as a Block Definition Diagram (BDD)—recognizing that a BDD serves merely as a placeholder for the actual system. While MOSA should establish interfaces that are open, clear, and easy to integrate, this should not suggest that blocks are inherently simple. Nonetheless, it remains true that deconstructing large and complex components (blocks, if you will) into smaller parts (which we might refer to more technically as microservices) facilitates easier maintenance, testing, and scaling of the system.

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