I have a dedicated programmer-NANO running a slightly modified version of the ISP-Programmer program.
What have you changed?
One thing I thought about trying was having the chip being programmed powered from a GPIO pin on the programmer-Arduino instead of directly from +5 V and have the ISP-Programmer program only power on the target chip at the start of the programming process.
My modified ISP programmer program has another home-brewed program embedded. It has an "overlord" which on starting reads a DIP switch to decide what to run - Run start-A/loop-A or run start-B/loop-B.
(A) NANO as ISP-Programmer
The ISP-Programmer side has just very minor change - the Arduino Example Program already support indicator LEDs. I modified it to have 3 LEDs, Red (programming - don't touch now), Yellow (Getting ready), Green (done, finished, can unplug/reboot anytime)
(B) NANO as USB adapter
The programmer-NANO serves as the USB serial adapter for the target-MCU (for me, my target frequently is an ATTINY85).
The NANO runs bit-bang to add RX2/TX2. With the ATTINY85 running universal serial "bit-bang" RX/TX which connects to the NANO's RX2/TX2. What the ATTINY writes, the NANO read and pass on to the USB. What the NANO received from the USB, it passed along to the ATTINY to read. With that, my ATTINY85 can talk to any serial terminal program on the PC via the NANO as communication conduit.
Since I mounted the programmer-NANO on a prototype board, I have room for more DIP switches and headers. Besides the standard ISP header and a header to connect the SOIC-clip cable, I also have a break-out header for the 8 pins coming from the SOIC clip. Additional DIP switches allows me to connect-to or to cut off individual pins from the target-MCU to the NANO (leaving that pin connecting the target-MCU pin to just the header break-out). That header allows me to insert something simple like an LED, or a jumper to a real breadboard.
The serial capability along with the breakout header, I can leave my ATTINY85 on the SOIC clip and do quite a lot of work before I need to solder it to the target PCB.