When to use 'raise NotImplementedError'?

As the documentation states ^[docs],

In user defined base classes, abstract methods should raise this exception when they require derived classes to override the method, or while the class is being developed to indicate that the real implementation still needs to be added.

Note that although the main stated use case this error is the indication of abstract methods that should be implemented on inherited classes, you can use it anyhow you'd like, like for indication of a TODO marker.

As Uriel says, it is meant for a method in an abstract class that should be implemented in child class, but can be used to indicate a TODO as well.

There is an alternative for the first use case: Abstract Base Classes. Those help creating abstract classes.

Here's a Python 3 example:

class C(abc.ABC):
    @abc.abstractmethod
    def my_abstract_method(self, ...):
        ...

When instantiating C, you'll get an error because my_abstract_method is abstract. You need to implement it in a child class.

TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class C with abstract methods my_abstract_method

Subclass C and implement my_abstract_method.

class D(C):
    def my_abstract_method(self, ...):
        ...

Now you can instantiate D.

C.my_abstract_method does not have to be empty. It can be called from D using super().

An advantage of this over NotImplementedError is that you get an explicit Exception at instantiation time, not at method call time.