reducing engineers on projects ...

My Big Boss was saying that we should increase our profit margin, via reducing the number of software engineers on projects. I disagree with that view. Instead we should increase the number of projects, by having the same number of software engineers working on more projects instead. 

By having instead of two engineers work on one project, have just one, I think... (possibilities that I might misunderstood) 

In a team, there is a synergy among team members. By reducing the number of software engineers, you are reducing the creative synergy, reducing the total brain power(exponentially at times) on a project. But if you keep the same number of software engineers,  and instead make them work faster (better, faster computers, write better code, do refactoring, learn and distribute knowledge and technology faster), you increases the capabilities of your software engineers while maintaining the quality.

Why do I say this? originally I was tasked to work on a module individually, I thus became the single point of failure. Eventually, another software engineer was tasked to work with me, and we generated more creative, better solution than I would have done alone. I was also practising my knowledge imparting skills, explaining concepts etc, we both learned from each other. I think that is the real intangible value... (haha we are not cogs in a machine, but craftsmen in training)