A small training session in a dark room, one instructor working through a system with a client at a laptop.
Joel Smalley · London and remote

Claude Training & Consultancy

71% of UK businesses say they have not identified a use for AI. That is the top barrier in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's AI Adoption Research, 2026. Our reading is that the process that runs the business is not written down. At Maxy Institute we write it down first. Then we train your people to rebuild one workflow on Anthropic Claude AI, or we build the automation ourselves.

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Automation and agentic AI Self-assessment Data map
§ 01 · Diagnosis
Reported barrier and our reading

The barrier

Asked what stops them using AI, 71% of UK businesses say they have not identified a use for it. Limited AI skills come second at 60% and cost third at 23%. The figures are from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's AI Adoption Research, 2026.

In our reading, the process that runs the business is not written down. The steps are held in people's heads. The exceptions vary by person. Nobody has mapped the systems that hold the data. So there is nothing for an AI system to be used on. Writing the process down comes first.

Parts
Part 01
Knowledge held in people's heads
The person who knows why a step is done that way has never had to explain it.
Part 02
Unwritten processes
The steps work. Nobody has written them down.
Part 03
Habits that vary by person
Two people do the same job in two different ways, and both ways work.
Part 04
Unmapped systems
Nobody has recorded which system holds each piece of data, what writes to it and what reads from it.
§ 02 · Offer
Training and automation

Services

01

Training

Your own people rebuild one of your workflows on Claude with us. We take the workflow apart, write down each step and rebuild it with them. They keep the written record and the skill to change it.

  • First step: the discovery day, £950 fixed
  • Then £1,250 a day one-to-one, or £4,500 a day for a private group of up to six from one organisation
  • The Claude setup is built with you and belongs to you
The training →
02

Automation and agentic AI

We write down how your business runs and you sign that record off. Then we build the automation. Any step that needs a person's judgement stays with a person.

  • First step: the same discovery day, £950 fixed
  • We recommend nothing until you have signed the record off
  • The build is scoped and priced after sign-off
Automation and agentic AI →
Automation or agent
Work
Build
Fixed rules, clean data and the same steps each time
Plain automation
A few fields copied out of a document, or from one system to another
A simple tool
Several steps, judgement at some of them, and more variation than a fixed process can take
An agent
Only the last row needs an agent. Most of the manual work in a small business is in the first row. Building it as an agent costs more and takes longer. More on the automation page →
§ 03 · Training
One client and one workflow per engagement

Training

We train your people on one of your own workflows, using your own data and systems.

We pick a task, a workflow or a system in your business that needs rebuilding. We take it apart together, write down each step and rebuild it on Claude. The engagement ends when the rebuilt workflow is running.

The training uses your own cases. We do not use examples from other businesses.

The training also covers your data: where it is held and how it is named and connected. It also covers who and what may reach it, and what can be built on it.

Privacy
One client per engagement. Nothing discussed in it is shared.
Workflows
We build on your tasks and systems. The result runs the same day.
Instructor
We build and run businesses on Claude.
§ 04 · Consultant
Joel Smalley, London

Consultant

Joel Smalley, lead instructor at Maxy Institute.
Joel Smalley, MBA
Principal, Rubytech · Lead Instructor, Maxy Institute · London

I am a systems engineer. For thirty years I have taken complicated systems apart, worked out what they do and rebuilt them. I spent the first twenty years in quantitative finance, pricing and trading derivatives at JPMorgan, CIBC, Daiwa and Tullett Prebon. The job was to get a decision out of a large dataset fast enough to trade on it.

In the ten years after that I led technology, product and innovation in payments, insurance, healthcare, logistics and real estate. I now build and run businesses on Claude. Those are the systems I teach.

Capital markets
Twenty years of trading, market-making and quantitative modelling
Industry
C-level technology and innovation roles in six sectors
Businesses
Maxy, Real Agent, SiteDesk and Education Hero: four businesses running on Claude Code
Education
MBA, Rotman, first in class · Postgraduate Diploma, Quantitative Finance
Certifications
Five Anthropic Certificates of Completion: AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations; AI Fluency: AI Capabilities & Limitations; Teaching the AI Fluency Framework; AI Fluency for Small Businesses; Introduction to agent skills.
§ 05 · Engagement
Discovery to handover

Engagement

01 · ONE DAY
Discovery.
One day of Joel's time. Half of it is on site. Half is spent writing up how the business runs: your role, your workflows, the habits that vary by person, and where the data is held. You amend the record and sign it off. Nothing is built at this stage and you commit to nothing beyond the day. If we are not the right fit we say so, and the record is yours either way.
02
Analysis.
We work from the signed record into one workflow: each step, each system it passes through, and each judgement only you can make. Where AI is not the answer we say so. Sometimes a simpler fix is the right one.
03
Rebuild.
We rebuild the workflow with you on Claude, at your desk and on your live systems, and only where it is worth building. Everything we build has a named owner and a way to switch it off. You use it the same day and we teach you as we go.
04
Handover.
You run it. You know why it is built this way and how to change it. After it goes live, most clients keep an advisory retainer, because the systems change and so does the platform under them.
Format 01

One-to-one

One-to-one training is for an owner, partner or director. It runs in full days at your desk or over video, on your own systems and cases.

  • One client at a time, and nothing from the engagement is shared
  • The Claude setup is built with you and belongs to you
  • Your work sets the pace
Format 02

Private group

A private group is up to six people from one organisation, ideally from the same division or role. Then every example applies to everyone in the room.

  • A shared workflow is rebuilt once and used by the whole group
  • Team conventions for naming, access, review and handovers

Every engagement begins with the discovery day: one day of Joel's time, half on site and half writing up how the business runs, £950 fixed. You amend and sign off the record before anything is built. After the engagement an advisory retainer, from £1,500 a month, covers changes to your systems and to the platform under them.

§ 06 · Data
Data layers

Your data

Claude Cowork and Claude Code are the tools. We teach you how to use your own data with them, on your own workflows.

Once you know the four layers in your own business, you can extend the system yourself after the engagement. You can also judge an AI proposal on its merits.

Layer 01
Substrate.
Where your data is held: files, inboxes, CRMs and spreadsheets. The shape it must be in before an agent can use it.
Layer 02
Ontology.
The names of the things in your business and how they relate to each other. The system then uses your words.
Layer 03
Access.
Who and what may reach each piece of data. You set the permissions and the boundaries yourself.
Layer 04
Intelligence.
What agents can be trusted to do on top of the other three layers: research, drafting, monitoring, and whole workflows that run while you work.
Curriculum

Behind every engagement is a Claude curriculum of 27 modules in three parts: foundation, assembly and mastery. It runs from plans and privacy through to Claude Skills, connectors, MCP and Cowork. MCP is the Model Context Protocol, the open standard that connects Claude to other software. We use the modules your work needs.

§ 07 · Clients
Construction, estate agency, finance, training and health research

Clients

For each client the work was Claude training, automation, or both.

Insights · Latest

AI fluency - are you using AI effectively and safely in your organisation?

Usage figures show how much AI is used. They do not show whether anyone uses it well or is improving. Anthropic's Compliance API exports what Claude produced without the working. A full fluency assessment compares the outcome with the AI's last draft. It also reads the record of the session and the person's own account of how they used it.

Read →
§ 08 · Comparison
Free course and private engagement

Anthropic Academy and Maxy Institute

Anthropic Academy

Anthropic Academy is free and general. It covers Claude as a product, task automation and rolling Claude out across a business. It teaches what the tools are. If you have taken it, we will tell you which parts apply to your work.

Maxy Institute

Our engagement is private and specific to your business. We take one of your workflows apart, rebuild it on Claude and hand it back to you running.

§ 09 · Pricing
Indicative rates

Pricing

You pay for your own work written down and for one workflow rebuilt and running. We price each engagement after the discovery day, once the record shows which workflows are involved and how much rebuilding they need. The smallest engagement is the discovery day plus one training day.

The discovery day stands on its own. The record is yours whether or not anything is built on it. If the work is not a fit for us, we say so and name someone better placed.

Enquire →
Discovery day
£950FIXED
One-to-one training and consultancy
£1,250/ DAY
Private group · up to six from one organisation
£4,500/ DAY
Advisory retainer
from £1,500/ MONTH
§ 10 · Enquiries
Enquiry form

Enquiries

Tell us what you do and which workflow takes most of your week. Joel replies within two working days with a view on whether we can help, how, and a proposed date for the discovery day.

  • What you do and where your hours go
  • The systems and data your work runs on
  • Whether you want one-to-one or a group from your organisation