Symptom

READY=False, REASON=DependencyNotReady. Transient: the controller requeues at spec.retryInterval (or spec.interval).

Cause

A StageSet listed in spec.dependsOn is not Ready at its observed generation, so this StageSet holds before doing any work. Semantics match kustomize-controller: a dependency is satisfied only when its Ready=True and its status.observedGeneration equals its current generation (so a freshly-edited dependency mid-reconcile does not count as ready).

Diagnosis

kubectl describe stageset <name> -n <namespace>            # Message names the dependency
kubectl get stageset <dependency> -n <namespace>           # is it Ready?
kubectl describe stageset <dependency> -n <namespace>      # why not?

Remediation

Resolve the dependency’s own Ready condition first (follow its runbook). Once it reports Ready=True at its current generation, this StageSet proceeds on the next reconcile. If the dependency is intentionally suspended, this StageSet waits indefinitely by design — remove the dependsOn entry or resume the dependency.

A dependsOn cycle is reported as Stalled, not this reason.