Jitter
jitter is best done by applying a random offset, ditto the backoff algorithm. A key part of the Ethernet specification is the random backoff algorithm for packet collisions (for the youngsters, look it up !) to avoid a situation where two stations detect a packet collision, both back off, and then both try again at the same time.
Other than that detail, yes the suggestion is correct - developers (of anything) need to consider the error conditions and how to cope with them.