Hi Paul,
Your description of SpiraTest's behavior is accurate. That's how it works now with version 4.2. While a person is in the process of executing a test case, no one else sees any evidence of that. That's by design.
But I see your point. The test lead or manager can't determine the accurate up-to-the-minute status, the way it is now.
Our next major release, which is being worked on right now, will include major enhancements to test cases and test sets. I passed on your feedback for consideration.
Note that if your testing process is to put together test cases into test sets and assign the test sets to testers to execute, the test set progress is updated as each test case is completed. You might want to try to keep your test cases relatively short and then create test sets for executing.
Regards,
Elise