It's good to roam if you can no longer press your advantage in your own lane, I.e. if they start to freeze by their tower or just insta wave clear every wave, but you can't dive them. Push the wave in and see if top or bottom can be ganked and ask where the wards are.
Roaming is pretty hard and can be punished easily too so it's difficult to get good roams every time. Sometimes they won't pay off and your laner will catch up a bit or pressure your tower, but to me its worth the shot at snowballing yourself further and helping another lane.
I sometimes like to pink the dragon brush in river maybe 30 seconds before a roam and then go sit in it and see if my enemy laner will follow, then jump on him if he does.