Implement SBOMs as a build and release practice
Treat SBOMs as continuously generated inventory tied to shipped artifacts, not as one-time compliance paperwork.
Quick Take
SBOM stands for Software Bill of Materials: a structured inventory of what your software contains. Implemented well, it reduces uncertainty during vulnerability events and procurement reviews because you can answer 'what's inside' quickly and consistently. Implemented poorly, it becomes a stale document that nobody trusts.
Start with scope and ownership
Decide what you are producing SBOMs for first: one product, one service, or one release artifact. "Everything" is a good long-term goal and a bad starting scope. The first win is being able to answer component questions reliably for the software you actually ship. Assign ownership for the SBOM process. Not "security owns it" or "DevOps owns it," but a clear operational owner who can ensure SBOM generation happens for every release and stays aligned with how software is built and deployed.
Generate SBOMs automatically per build and per release
An SBOM is only useful if it is repeatable. Generate it as part of the build pipeline so it is produced the same way every time, and produce it per release so you can map it to what was shipped. Avoid manual creation. If the SBOM depends on someone remembering to run a command and upload a file, it will drift. Automation turns SBOMs from a document into a system behavior.
Tie SBOMs to deployed artifacts and response workflows
SBOMs matter most when something breaks. Make sure you can map an SBOM to a specific released version and the deployed artifact that is running in production. Without that linkage, you can have "an SBOM" and still be unable to answer "are we affected." Connect SBOMs to the way you handle vulnerabilities and vendor requests. The goal is a short path from a disclosed issue to a clear answer: affected, not affected, or unknown because inventory is incomplete.
Set quality rules to prevent compliance theater
Define what "good enough" means: coverage of direct and transitive dependencies, consistent component naming, and predictable format across releases. Add checks that fail builds or block releases when SBOM generation is missing or obviously incomplete. Plan lifecycle handling. SBOMs need retention, versioning, and a way to share them externally when required. The value comes from making SBOMs a boring, default part of shipping software.
Signal
What most teams underestimate is drift: SBOMs fail when they are not generated automatically and tied to what is actually deployed. If you cannot answer "which SBOM matches what's running," you do not have an operational SBOM practice.