My team lead and I have talked with our VP, and we are abandoning the Octane engine in favour of using QTP the way it is intended to be used. So, I am now building a re-useable testing component framework from the ground up. Sure will save us some time later in the process. QTP is by no means perfect, but now I don't have the extra layer of error-causing code in the way.
I also just finished a coding standard we will use going forward. Should help make our peer reviews easier, and our code more maintainable. I didn't get crazy with it, but I did think some guidelines were a good idea. Ye gods, had you told me six months ago that I would write a coding standard, I'd have gotten sick. Funny how we hate that sort of thing until we are responsible for making sure the code is easy to read and maintain...