One aspect includes a method for use with a steam assisted gravity drainage well. The method includes generating an analytical framework for the well at least in part by modeling one or more observable variables as a function at least of one or more control variables; and modeling one or more output variables as a function at least of at least one of the one or more control variables; and at least one of the one or more observable variables. The method further includes utilizing the analytical framework to determine an optimal configuration for the well, the optimal configuration including a set of one or more values for the one or more control variables which produce one or more desired values for the one or more output variables; and configuring the well to operate with the determined optimal configuration.