NASA has introduced a “weekly accomplishments app” designed for agency workers to track their productivity, aligning with one of Elon Musk’s directives aimed at increasing government efficiency.
Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro informed employees via an email, revealed to Bloomberg News, that the new secure, internal tool simplifies the process for workers to track and share their weekly achievements. This tool is part of the implementation of the “Five Things” request.
Last month, Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump, issued an unexpected directive through his team to over two million federal employees. The directive required them to email their weekly accomplishments, with the consequence of potential job loss for non-compliance.
This directive is part of Musk’s bold strategy to transform the government, creating uncertainty within NASA and other agencies. The initiative faced substantial backlash across the government, with some cabinet secretaries advising employees to ignore the emails due to potential national security risks or issues with classified information. The White House later clarified that employees would not be terminated for non-compliance and advised them to adhere to instructions from their agency leaders.
Despite the pushback, federal employees continue to receive weekly prompts to submit their five key accomplishments, with varied instructions across different agencies.
Petro described the weekly accomplishments app as a tool to streamline reporting and provide employees with a continuous record of their contributions. This announcement follows NASA’s decision to close two offices and conduct job cuts to align with President Trump’s executive orders. These changes occur amidst a period of uncertainty as NASA anticipates the confirmation of Trump’s nominee for administrator, Jared Isaacman. Isaacman has previously funded two SpaceX missions and his company, Shift4 Payments, has provided Musk’s space enterprise with $27.5 million in support.
In her communication to NASA civil servants, Petro mentioned that she would continue to submit the weekly accomplishments and activities of all agency staff to the US Office of Personnel Management. She emphasized that the new tool would serve as a straightforward method for employees to share their work as part of this process.
