Addressing delegates at the National Children and Adult Services conference in Harrogate, John Coughlan criticised the inspection agency for its "obsession with records and process".
But he also warned directors of children's services of the "destructive" dangers of a culture of defensiveness, saying: "If we become so obsessed with looking at our own backs, we will break what has been done."
Questioning what roles the current Ofsted inspection framework has Coughlan asked whether inspections were simply audits of systems or inspections designed to improve services.
He said: "We are not doing anything in inspections to audit qualitative practice such as watching teachers in classrooms.
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