To be honest, 10-12 just sounds more like a small open office to me rather than a shared team space. When I think of a shared office, I think of maybe 2-4 peopl

To be honest, 10-12 just sounds more like a small open office to me rather than a shared team space. When I think of a shared office, I think of maybe 2-4 people in a spacious private office. Even at 5 people you'd start to lose the benefits of the office rapidly. Even if all 12 folks are on the same team, I'm sure it's possible to split them up into subspecialties or working groups. An unstructured blob of 12 people on a team doesn't sound that ideal either way, regardless of seating arrangements.