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Choosing your successor is an emotional minefield.

With the new guy just getting his feet under the table in the White House in Washington, I'm sure the thoughts of many office workers are turning to succession planning.

"What planning?" I hear you ask. Is that like, planning for your own success? No, succession planning is where, as part of your job, you carefully consider who might be the best candidate to take over from you if, for whatever reason, you were no longer doing it yourself.

I first came across the concept in an early job, after someone had foolishly put me in charge of some computing project. I know, I know. Some middle managers had to learn the hard way in those days.

Anyway, as part of my first performance review, I was asked what would happen to the project if I was to fall under a bus later that day? I have to admit, for a moment I was lost for words. And that doesn't happen very often.

My first thought was, this was one of those philosophical conundrums, like the one about a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it. I was on the point of saying something like, "the project will move into another state of being, the precise nature of which is unknowable", when the truth hit me.

If I was to fall under a bus later that day, I was supremely indifferent to the fate of the city's computerised waste management information system. Both the subject of the project and the project itself were indeed rubbish.

Of course, being the quick thinking soul that I remain today, I immediately realised this was the wrong answer. The right answer was to select some other poor drone and claim he or she knew almost (but not quite) as much about the project as me. All they needed to step into the breach was a set of instructions, which I had already lodged with my lawyer, marked "to be opened in the event of me falling under a bus". My boss ticked a box on his sheet and seemed happy.

After my first encounter with succession planning, I soon realised the whole subject is a political and emotional danger zone. While you may not give two hoots about what happens in your old job once you're far away, the stench of a serious work stuff-up can follow you around for years.

So what's the plan, Stan? Do you suggest someone really good to take over from you? The problem here is they'll end up doing twice the work in half the time and expose your slackness to all your previous admirers.

The alternative of suggesting someone who's not very good is that you'll look like an idiot for suggesting them. No, my extensive research has shown the ideal candidate is someone who's just a bit below par but tries really hard. The extra effort should sustain them in the post for a year or two.

Then, by the time it all goes horribly wrong, people should have forgotten who it was that recommended them in the first place. Which should give you just enough time to move on.