I've worked on a few projects lately in which most or all of the team was situated remotely and I've noticed something interesting about the way things get done.

A single day on a typical project in which the team is working locally might involve several short meetings but it typically also involves a significant amount of what I would call "local communication". This is the kind of communicaton where team member turn and talk to each other or yell across the room or stand up and talk over cubicle walls for a quick minute or two, usually just to clarify some small point or figure out some small detail. However, in a remote project this often doesn't happen, even with modern communication technologies. The end result is that a single day in a remote project can be a long time. It's enough time for two people collaborating on something to move invert different directions.