Hi Benjamin,
You're not alone — this has come up in a few corners of the community already. A few observations from someone who's been through a similar Odoo UX regression cycle:
On the Pause removal in 19.0
This was almost certainly tied to the broader rework that landed fully in 19.2 — they likely pulled Pause in 19.0 because the new timer architecture didn't support it yet, planning to either reintroduce it or replace the workflow entirely. Unfortunately Odoo rarely flags "temporary removals" in release notes; features just vanish and reappear (or don't).
On the 19.2 rework
Looking at the new docs, the timer is now more of a "global stopwatch with task assignment after the fact" model rather than the "open task → Start → Stop → describe" flow you (and we) have built muscle memory around. It's optimised for users who jump between many small tasks without pre-planning, but it actively hurts the workflow of users who work in longer focused blocks on a known task — which sounds like exactly your case.
Practical options:
Don't auto-upgrade. If you're self-hosted or on Odoo.sh, pin to 19.0 (or even 18) until you've validated the new flow with at least 2–3 power users from your team. Online customers unfortunately don't get this choice for long.
File it on the Odoo GitHub (odoo/odoo repo, issue with the timesheet label) framed as a workflow regression, not a feature request. Include a concrete before/after click count — e.g., "old flow: 2 clicks per entry, new flow: 5 clicks + 1 dropdown". Quantified regressions get traction; "I don't like it" doesn't.
Override in a custom module. The old hr.timesheet timer logic (timer_start, timer_stop, timer_pause on account.analytic.line via the timer_mixin) is still in the codebase — the rework is mostly frontend (OWL components + new controller actions). A ~150-line custom module can restore the old Start/Stop/Pause button on the task form view by re-binding to the legacy mixin methods. We've done this kind of UX-preservation override before for clients hit by similar reworks; it's maintainable as long as you're prepared to re-test on every minor upgrade.
Submit feedback through your Customer Success Manager if you're Enterprise. This is the channel that actually reaches the product team — the forum rarely does for design decisions already shipped.
On the "why" from Odoo's side
Speculation, but the new timer aligns with the mobile-first push and the Spreadsheet/Studio integration story (timer entries feeding directly into project dashboards without requiring upfront task selection). It's a defensible direction for new users but painful for existing power users — classic second-system effect.
If you want, I can sketch the custom module skeleton that restores the old Start/Pause/Stop button group on the task kanban + form view. It's the most pragmatic path if you can't delay the upgrade and the team genuinely depends on the old flow.
— Hari