Federal workers in a government tech office are once again being mandated to send in updates about what they do, giving some flashbacks to the infamous “five things” emails Elon Musk required at the height of DOGE.
Sam Corcos, a former member of DOGE currently leading the Technology Transformation Services office in the General Services Administration, is asking employees to send daily emails recapping their work, or risk “adverse action.”
“The purpose of these updates is to help us better understand what everyone is working on, give TTS Front Office a clearer picture of progress across the organization, and identify any blockers,” Corcos wrote to over 200 employees last Friday. “Failure to comply may result in adverse action.”
Employees are to send in a summary of the work they did that day, what they plan to do tomorrow and any issues they need help with by 6 p.m (in their respective time zones). The requirement began Monday.
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Justin Adelman, who, according to his LinkedIn, graduated college in 2023 and was hired over the summer through Trump’s early-career tech program, the U.S. Tech Force, will be charged with helping “unblock” any problems identified in the emails, Corcos wrote.
One employee within the GSA told The Washington Sun that the email reflects Corcos’ “basic distrust in and underestimation of Federal workers.”
Another GSA employee said they don’t trust that the email is genuinely meant to help the agency surface problems.
“It feels like they’re trying to mess with our heads again,” they said.
Last year, Musk directed all federal workers to submit weekly emails noting five things they accomplished. The White House formally ended the requirement in August.
Corcos, who is also the Treasury Department’s chief information officer, called Adelman an “experienced engineer whose work has spanned major public-sector technology initiatives, including the IRS mobile app and super intelligence efforts across Treasury, as well as prior startup experience.”
Adelman is set to receive a masters from the Georgia Institute of Technology next month, according to his LinkedIn profile, where he lists himself as a co-founder of several startups and has also done stints working for government contractors, one of those for two and a half years.
Adelman, per Corcos, is leading the GSA’s work on the Trump administration’s America.gov website. That project is through the White House’s National Design Studio, which is led by another former DOGE associate and Airbnb co-founder, Joe Gebbia.
The GSA did not respond to a request for comment.
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