I think the move toward micro-services (and serverless and whatever other buzzwords you want to use for a distributed loosely coupled design) is an answer to th

I think the move toward micro-services (and serverless and whatever other buzzwords you want to use for a distributed loosely coupled design) is an answer to that problem, if not exactly the answer you're describing. The idea being that each small piece is easier to leave alone for long periods of time, and, should it ever become impossible to leave it alone, whether for security reasons or something else, updating it or replacing it is much easier than doing the same for a big tightly coupled pile of components.