1. A method of managing a plurality of agents vying for a resource in a computer network having a central authority, comprising the steps of: at a given agent, generating a set of available agent start times based on resource usage statistic s and given scheduling criteria distributed to the given agent by the central authority; at the given agent, initiating agent activity at an available agent start time selected from the set of available agent start times; and upon a given occurrence, selecting a new start time for the agent activity.