Well put Guppy. Exactly how we did it in the military...... either maintenance has the aircraft or the aircrew but never both!!! We stayed out til they finished fixing it THEN we signed for it.
My pet peeve is the numerous interruptions from customer service agents asking permission to close the doors as soon as boarding is completed- albeit with a light pax load and it being 15-20 mins before sked departure. They seem ignorant of the fact that it takes us about the same time to prepare the aircraft prior to each departure, no matter what the pax load.
I do enjoy working with captains who brief the In Charge F/A NOT to let these people into the cockpit.