[poletopole]

I'm a dev and have worked 7+ years remotely. What I've found that helps is to do voice conferences where the dev team has casual discussions on anything they want to share, maybe twice a month. It's very hard to gauge someone's personality or insecurities over chat alone. I worked on location with my boss for a year before going remote and that helped considerably because I knew how to communicate with him--that's what it boils down to--is knowing how to approach a team member to help them or ask for help, give them assignments, collaborate, etc. Having these "huddles" is also a good way to share what you're having trouble on and get advice.