I began working on the "pause" in the '70s, when I saw the best players using it. It was a challenge as I'd played a long time without it. For me, the slight pause at address point is to confirm the target point on the cue ball. The pause at the end of the back stroke is sort of unnecessary if you have a nice slow pullback. A jerk back and then a pause doesn't help much. I like to think of the final backstroke as my relaxation stroke. Too long a pause at the back defeats the purpose, giving you a chance to lose focus (become distracted), and requires a new message to be sent to the involved small muscles. With A nice relaxed grip and proper wrist action, it feels almost like the cue wants to come forward on its own. Also the "business" stroke should be accelerating gently and smoothly from the "pause" to the moment of impact on most shots.
^^^This^^^
I pause at final address to the cue ball to get my line and relax everything. Then, my action stroke is smooth and with enough power to get the cueball where I need it.