> breaking that out into MS later is usually low effort and fun

In my experience, breaking down 5+ year old / multiteam monoliths has always been painful, frustrating, and required huge efforts, especially when nobody remembers why certain things are the way they are. In addition, getting enough support for business to do it was hard. I really find it quite surprising to hear someone share the opposite opinion and wonder what kind of environment and the size of the project you were in.