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What good or bad technique means to you often comes down to personal tolerance for positions.
One of the baffling things about coaching and watching people move over the last 13 years is this:
The same movement can cause pain and/or discomfort in one person and be absolutely fine for someone else.
It could be a squat with knees caving in slightly.
It could be a rounded back on a deadlift.
It could be the degree to which the knee travels ahead while you squat.
It could be how the shoulder rolls in while you do pushing or pulling work.
It could be any movement really. Be it while you exercise or interact with an object.
Rather than thinking of technique as good or bad, right or wrong, optimal or suboptimal, it might help to tailor the question for each individual:
How stable are you while performing a movement or in a certain position?
How much control do you have?
How much force are you able to produce from this position?
How much time are you able to spend in this position?
How many times are you able to repeat this exact, same effort before you feel fatigue, discomfort or pain?
While physics rules the world in determining the optimal way to lift an object or produce force, biological tissue does not behave like a stiff crowbar or a stiff metal rod. When you see people lifting objects or moving in the real world, it will not look like the straight line in a classic third-class lever drawing. Joints and muscles don’t stack as neatly as a lever. There are less than straight lines, rounding, rotation and kinks to produce the same outcomes as a lever.
And strength is only a guarantee that you can produce enough force or resistance in a certain situation.
Being pain-free is much more complicated than having enough strength to not feel pain. It is a messy mix of healing, tolerance, perception, your attitude and of course your willingness to move with confidence.