Trader I agree with you, get them to work for a while, then let them be lazy for a few hours then back to work.
It didn't work that well yesterday morning however, 45 mins from initial Start up call to departure. Radio 121.85 jammed, the standard response 'standby I'll call you back', followed by 'cleared to start, standby for push'. Bah ground doing the best they could under the circumstances.
There were 11 a/c trying to depart together, it was like the Regency traffic jam!