ICS is managed by objectives. Objectives are communicated throughout the entire ICS organization through the Incident Action Planning Process.

Management by objectives includes:

• Establishing overarching objectives.
• Developing and issuing assignments, plans, procedures, and protocols.
• Establishing specific, measurable objectives for various incident management functional activities.
• Directing efforts to attain them, in support of defined strategic objectives.
• Documenting results to measure performance and facilitate corrective action.