The cross reference system in Writer is quite powerful, but not perfect: There are indeed a number of requests about it.
For example
[url=ttps://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=58991]Bug 58991 - Cross-reference Fields window should be expandable[/url]
This request ask for either a way to resize the cross-reference fields window (something that, AFAIK, it's not that easy with the VCL toolkit used by AOO) or to add a horizontal scroll bar.
Bug 59209 - No memory in Fields dialog for user's previous selections
We all experimented this: each time the dialogue is opened, it offers to insert the page number so each time we need to select the right entry
Bug 118639 - Add a "filter" to Insert > Field > Other > Cross reference tab
To find the right heading to cross-reference when you have dozens of them it is always time consuming: a filter to narrow the search would be interesting
Bug 110496 - Create Cross references by dragging from navigator
A related request: the ability to take one entry on the Navigator, drag-n-dop it to the document and obtain a cross-reference instead of a hyperlink.
So the challenge here is to take these (and others) old problems/requests with the cross-reference system, discuss them and move the whole system towards the future.