I'm a developer. The problem is not that I'm "failing to rise up to this level of problem-solving". The problem is how much free time I have, and whether I can

I'm a developer. The problem is not that I'm "failing to rise up to this level of problem-solving". The problem is how much free time I have, and whether I can afford distractions from my main project to fiddle with IRC and get it to do what I want. We use Slack because "it just works". You get invited, you join, and BAM! You're done. There is one uniform client for all platforms and a bazillion integrations already developed for you. And creating your own is usually a simple matter of sending a POST request to a channel's webhook using a unique token. Essentially it comes down to this: IRC is a protocol that requires a fair amount of research and configuration to make it do exactly what you want it to do. Slack is a product that comes with the vast majority of features most teams need. That's why a ton of people are gravitating towards the latter.