ansible feels like compiler in and of itself. not that i'm an expert in either `make` or `ansible`.
But both have a similar "stare at the screen patiently seeing many green/gray tasks scroll by, anxiously waiting when it'll spit red or come to a clean halt.

In any case often they make the ~same thing, an execultable blob.
One is run by an os, the other your "orchestrator". 
One runs on your computer, the other in the "cloud".