  Variable emission is one of the defining characteristic of active galactic
nuclei (AGN). While providing precious information on the nature and physics of
the sources, variability is often challenging to observe with time- and
field-of-view-limited astronomical observatories such as Imaging Atmospheric
Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). In this work, we address two questions relevant
for the observation of sources characterized by AGN-like variability: what is
the most time-efficient way to detect such sources, and what is the
observational bias that can be introduced by the choice of the observing
strategy when conducting blind surveys of the sky. Different observing
strategies are evaluated using simulated light curves and realistic instrument
response functions of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), a future gamma-ray
observatory. We show that strategies that makes use of very small observing
windows, spread over large periods of time, allows for a faster detection of
the source, and are less influenced by the variability properties of the
sources, as compared to strategies that concentrate the observing time in a
small number of large observing windows. Although derived using CTA as an
example, our conclusions are conceptually valid for any IACTs facility, and in
general, to all observatories with small field of view and limited duty cycle.
