Yep. IME the only way to make a salaried team of 10 devs work efficiently is to have enough work that you can split it cleanly into 5-10 projects that 1-2 people can own and work on autonomously.

Too bad every team I've ever worked on as a consultant does the opposite. The biggest piles of shit I've ever seen created have all been the product of 10 people doing 2 people's worth of work...

On one hand projects developed by 2 passionate devs ; on the other hand a team of entry to mid level devs working on someone else's project for the money.

That team changes every 6 month when another company offers more money. If only one or two people are working on a project, that's a high risk for the company.

If you got one or two highly skilled people in that team of 10, you are lucky. Managers don't want them to work alone on their project, they want them to help the team grow.

Yes and no. Small 2 person teams as vastly more efficient, but who will take over when they quit/retire/die? Larger teams have more continuity, I think.