An important factor is team cohesion and trust. In a fully distributed team, trust is immensely important because you can't just look out at the warroom and see

An important factor is team cohesion and trust. In a fully distributed team, trust is immensely important because you can't just look out at the warroom and see who is "crushing it". You have to have a team that can come together in ways other than having a beer every Friday. Sometimes this is accomplished by having a once per quarter, or twice per year, or even once per year gathering. Those are generally good times for team building activities, not just commits. Having non-work interactions with your other co-workers can also be helpful. Something as silly as firing up a Quake server or playing Halo together can make a difference. Also, you cannot expect to apply standard management approaches in a distributed team environment. It can be a struggle because you have to find a new way to evaluate the contributions of your various team members. I think that this is actually where most distributed teams fall apart. Managers simply aren't trained for this environment.