☕ SharePoint Tip #18 — Writing SharePoint User Stories that actually work

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Good morning! Here is your 15-minute SharePoint tip for today.

Day 18 | Week 4 — Product Owner Mastery

Writing SharePoint User Stories

User stories are how you translate business needs into development work. Writing them well for SharePoint requires understanding both the platform and the user’s context.

The standard format

As a [type of user],
I want [to do something],
So that [I can achieve a goal].

Paired with Acceptance Criteria (the definition of done).

5 real SharePoint user stories with acceptance criteria

Story 1 — Document versioning
As a Finance team member, I want to see the version history of any spreadsheet in the Finance library, so that I can restore an earlier version if a formula is accidentally overwritten.

  • AC: Version history is enabled on the Finance library
  • AC: Minimum 50 versions retained per file
  • AC: Users can restore any version without IT involvement

Story 2 — Approval workflow
As a Legal Manager, I want to receive an approval request when a contract is uploaded to the Contracts library, so that I can approve or reject it before it is shared externally.

  • AC: Power Automate flow triggers on new file upload to Contracts library
  • AC: Approval email sent within 2 minutes of upload
  • AC: File Status column updates to Approved or Rejected based on response
  • AC: Uploader notified of outcome by email

Story 3 — External sharing
As a Project Manager, I want to share a specific project folder with an external client, so that they can view (but not edit) project deliverables without needing a VPN.

  • AC: Sharing configured with "Specific people" link type
  • AC: External guest must authenticate to access
  • AC: Link expires after 30 days automatically
  • AC: Sharing audited and logged in the compliance portal

Story 4 — Search
As a new employee, I want to search for documents by keyword across all department sites I have access to, so that I can find relevant content without knowing which site it lives on.

  • AC: Search returns results from all sites the user has read access to
  • AC: Results include content inside documents, not just file names
  • AC: Results filterable by file type, date, and author

Story 5 — Governance
As a SharePoint Administrator, I want to receive an alert when a site has had no activity for 90 days, so that I can contact the site owner and archive or delete stale sites.

  • AC: Inactive site policy configured for 90 days
  • AC: Email sent to primary site owner automatically
  • AC: Owner has 30 days to respond before site is archived

Try it today (5 minutes)

Pick one manual process in your organisation that involves SharePoint (or should). Write one user story for it using the format above, with at least three acceptance criteria. This is the core of your job as Product Owner — start practising now.

See you tomorrow at 6:00 AM with Tip #19 — Backlog Prioritisation for SharePoint!