The best time to start a Design Thinking project is once you have a well defined innovation strategy by means of an innovation roadmap. Therefore you make sure to develop the right products at the right time, and also meet market demands at the right time. The roadmap is a lookout into 5-10 years into the future and at success patterns from the past, while a Design Thinking project helps to create future value by looking at needs and problems of the near future (1-3 years).