Not a total defense of microservices, but that's also a problem with just improper modular code (apparent tight coupling between modules/services and many repet

Not a total defense of microservices, but that's also a problem with just improper modular code (apparent tight coupling between modules/services and many repetitions). Since you're talking about refactoring, which is a stepwise procedure, an early step can be identifying things like these repetitions and consolidating them into a single (or single set) of modules which are referenced by the multiple services. This doesn't fix the deployment problem (needing to redeploy multiple services for a single change), but it can address the code change problem. This also sets you on the path to a monolith if that's what makes sense for your system or organization in the future since your code will become more consolidated with this process over time. But you can avoid committing to a monolith earlier than necessary, you may find multiple services (micro or mega) are appropriate as you start cleaning up the system.