hen breaking down a monolithic application into microservices, the first step is to identify the key functionality and features of the application. 

This typically involves working with the application's stakeholders to understand their requirements and goals. 

Once the key functionality has been identified, the next step is to determine how to divide the functionality into individual microservices. 

This can be done by looking at the dependencies and interactions between different parts of the application, and trying to identify natural boundaries between different services.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchapparchitecture/feature/Break-monoliths-into-microservices-with-3-steps