A product (or product feature) launch is a high-leverage moment for a company, and one of the hardest to execute well. The bigger the launch, the more it starts to feel like an engineering project: multiple owners, dependencies, critical paths, and approvals.
Creative ideas matter, of course. They’re the spark. But in 2026, the teams that launch well aren’t the most creative, they’re the most coordinated.
At Blue Seedling, we use a simple system to keep launches running smoothly. The Launch BOM (Bill of Materials), also known as the Launch Checklist, is our go-to tool: a simple way to keep the chaos under control and the launch moving forward.
Why launches break
Even with better tools, more automation, and smarter workflows, launches still fall apart for the same very human reasons:
- Drafts are fast. Approvals are slow.
The writing isn’t the bottleneck; getting alignment is. - Ownership determines output.
If a task doesn’t have a clear owner, it won’t ship. It’ll just hover in the “someone should…” zone. - Your launch is only as strong as its weakest asset.
One low-effort piece can pull everything down. - Tools speed you up. Judgment makes it good.
Technology gets you to “good.” Taste gets you to “great.” - The BOM has to stay alive.
If it’s not updated, it stops being a system and becomes a story. - Misalignment of stakeholders.
Everyone involved in the launch needs to understand what’s being launched and who it’s for. If they don’t, the message becomes inconsistent and important details slip through the cracks.
These are the fault lines where launches tend to break. A launch BOM helps you spot risks early, before they show up on launch day, and makes sure everything moves smoothly.
What a launch BOM is (and what it actually includes)
A Launch BOM is your single source of truth for the entire campaign — one place where every asset, channel, owner, deadline, and dependency lives.
It’s the difference between guessing and knowing. Between “I think this is covered” and: “Check the sheet; you’ll see exactly where things stand.”
A BOM doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to be complete.
In a typical launch, that means mapping out the essentials across a few core areas:
- Assets (social graphics, short videos, product visuals)
- Website updates (homepage banner, product page tweaks, SEO additions)
- Blog content (announcement post, deep-dive, POV/behind-the-scenes piece)
- Email (newsletter mention, customer announcement, internal enablement)
- Social (company post, leadership POV, multi-post sequence, partner amplification)
- Ads (LinkedIn and Google variants, creative refreshes)
- Analysts (briefings, update emails, supporting materials)
- PR (press release, media list, quotes)
Before jumping into the specifics of your launch, it’s important to ask: What should actually be included?
Choosing the right assets and tasks is just as critical as executing them. From social posts to PR, it’s easy to get lost in the details. If you’re unsure where to start or what to prioritize, check out our checklist for a breakdown of common launch elements and how to map them out effectively.
Different companies add or remove categories based on their size, channels, and ambitions, but the core idea stays the same: everything lives in one place.
Using the Launch BOM in practice
A Launch BOM stops being useful the moment it turns into a status document.
If updates happen after meetings instead of during them, it’s already out of date.
If decisions live in Slack threads and the BOM gets updated later, people stop trusting it.
If changes aren’t reflected right away, the launch slowly goes off track.
What works is simple: the BOM is where things get decided.
When timelines move, the BOM is updated first. When something is blocked, it shows up there. Launch check-ins happen with the BOM open, not as a follow-up task. Owners update their own rows instead of sending status updates for someone else to transcribe.
Used this way, the BOM reflects reality as it changes, which is exactly what a launch needs.
Why we use a shared sheet for launches
The Launch BOM isn’t meant to replace a project management tool. It serves a different purpose.
A shared sheet makes the entire launch visible at once: assets, owners, dependencies, and status. There’s no switching between views or digging through tasks. Anyone involved can quickly see what’s happening, what’s blocked, and where attention is needed. For launches, that level of visibility matters more than workflow automation.
Everything is mapped.
Everything is owned.
Everything is visible to everyone who needs to ship it.
Final thought
If 2024 was the era of “AI can draft your content,” and 2025 was “AI can help your workflows,” 2026 is the era of orchestrated launches: structured, predictable, and far less chaotic.
The BOM is the control room.
Use it. Share it. Adapt it. And launch like a team that knows exactly what it’s doing.
