The Route is a 25-step methodology for the development of digital health projects.
The aim is for the project to progress by balancing five 5 perspectives: clinical, technological, regulatory, market and business.
To achieve this, the project is divided into 5 stages and it is established that a series of milestones must be met to progress from one stage to the next. These milestones include requirements from the above 5 perspectives.
The 5 stages into which the project is divided are:
- Understanding the problem to be addressed.
- Ideation of potential solutions to the problem.
- Selecting a solution option and designing the solution concept.
- Development of the solution concept until a functional product that meets expectations is achieved.
- Defining a business plan that makes the solution scalable and sustainable.
Combining the 5 perspectives (clinical, technological, regulatory, market and business) with the 5 stages of the project, the 25 steps of The Route methodology emerge:

Each of the 25 steps has a set of deliverables, which help the project evolve in a balanced way.
The methodology of the Route is detailed in the book (in Spanish) ‘La Ruta‘, using the narrative of a story that happened to Tina Almandoz, an investment analyst at a venture capital fund who was commissioned to set up a corporate venturing programme in digital health and ended up starting her own project.
I use the Route in my mentoring of digital health projects.