D&D 5E Some slightly fiddly combat rules questions

[Sword of Spirit]

"As the party creeps down the corridor, they hear the click of a crossbow firing. <Roll initiative.> Jeral is not quite quick enough to react, and the crossbow strikes him in the shoulder."

Allowing things to hit before initiative really, really, really overpowers assassin rogues with crossbows.

That's a reasonable way to describe it, and I agree about the reasons for the rules (and I follow the rules). I just think that sometimes it is easier for me as the DM to follow the sequence in the rules but make the rolls myself so I can narrate more "surprising" surprise attacks on the characters. I never cheat a player out of a reaction that way though--if they have a possible reaction (and I keep pretty close track of the PCs abilities so I'll usually know if they have such an option), I'll make sure they know they can use it.

The statement I was primarily trying to make is just that I've seen other DMs use older edition surprise rules instead of the 5e rules because they either didn't understand the 5e rules or didn't find them intuitively satisfying. They work just fine mechanically, but it takes some skill to apply them.